you aint gettin no schoolin'

Welcome to my world..the world of not sending your child off to pre-K in a neatly pressed skirt with gleaming new backpack and shiny black shoes.

Welcome to my world...the world of having spine enough to reject a school that puts a major fast food corporation(albeit a play one) into a place of learning and labeling it a 'creative play area',and reasoning that "we want the children to have something 'familiar' from the community so they feel comfortable"

Welcome to my world...where my beautiful smart child doesn't have 'school' today.

Welcome to my world...where what feels like 100 calls to other schools have netted NADA

Welcome to my world...where we don't have $13000 for pre-k at one of the best private schools around (reggio emilia inspired at that!)

Welcome to my world, the world of 'waitlists' and $800 a month 'alternatives'...

welcome to my big fat stinkin crappy world

but hey, what's going on in your world?

p.s. I posted this drawing of Piper by the magnificent Maia Larkin because it makes me happy, it makes me see that even without pre-K Piper will shoot for the moon, and if she misses she will land among the stars.

dynamo

this child is a miracle. she is wise beyond her years. she is spunky, articulate, funny, cheeky, and willful. She makes up songs, stories, and asks questions befitting of a 10 year old.

watch out world...Piper is coming!

Just to add...the gymnastics team coach called last night and has invited Piper to be part of a new program prepping for the team. Only one other little girl who is 5 will be in this class...the rest are 6-7-8 year olds. We are so proud of her.

FOUR YEARS AGO TODAY

We saw your face for the very first time.

and we fell in love forever.

Vive la Piper!

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

when it rains...it POURS

My baby has cellulitis. She has been complaining of a 'sore finger' for just over a week. She had a littl tear on her cuticle, we treated it, covered it with a bandaid and it healed.

She kept complaining about a sore finger...it looked perfectly fine. She has an addiction to bandaids, I thought she was playing me for more! Today, within 15 minutes her hand went from normal to red hot and swollen. I took her to the pediatrician. Apparently this happens very quickly, she couldn't find the 'entry' wound, it had already healed...

We have to check her at 12pm, 3am, 6am...if it has swollen anymore we need to take her to the ER.

talk about icing on the cake eh

poor Paisley.

SCHOOL-LESS

Most kids would be jumping for joy at the prospect, but Piper is royally bummed out.

As of 5pm today Piper is a child without a preschool. So much for preplanning 10 months in advance. A week before school starts we have made the decision to stand by our ethics and remove her from the school. After speaking with the Director of the preschool program we realized that they really didn't see the harm in the McDonalds 'creative play area' in the classroom and they refused to take it down or change it to something more generic. Because of the reaction to our concerns we feel this probably isn't the best fit for Piper or our family on many levels. Deep down I know I'm a Reggio Emilia lovin' girl, but we just don't have schools locally that follow the philosophies. I've known it for a few years now, it is very similar to how I was taught, how I was trained to teach and how I'd like to see my children learn. There are certain things I'd like to make sure my children experience in life, and I'm sure I'll face more challenges along the road. The moral of the story I guess is

"be the change you want to see"

it may not always work in your favor like in this case, but I hope that it inspires some thought on the matter, some discussion among the educators as to why we felt this was important enough to make a stand on. I have Piper waitlisted at the preschool in an area 15 minutes away, she will be attending the Chinese Immersion program in the same district next year so perhaps it's all for the best. If she doesn't get into the Tues/Thurs class then we will just enroll her in the Friday morning preschool Chinese program where she will be with many of the children who will go with her into the Kindergarten program. Other than that I might take a leaf out of my friend Tiffany's book and do a wee bit of Homeschooling.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

Recent projections in the world of adoptions estimate that families who logged in their dossier with China in the latter part of 2006 will wait until 2015 before receiving a referral.

I'm sorry, but at what point in the process do agencies start understanding that the NSN program in China is no longer a viable option. It appears to me that China has opened up it's domestic adoption program considerably and that Chinese people are finally allowed to adopt abandoned or orphaned children.

I think thats FANTASTIC!

So why do they still offer a non special needs program internationally? I don't know? I'm completely and utterly confused by the whole thing.

If you have a potential wait of NINE years don't sign up!

I have a huge amount of sorrow and compassion for people who signed up in 2006 and into early 2007 but in all honesty, I find it hard to believe that the adoption agencies, the State department and CHINA found it okay to accept dossiers beyond that point.

In some countries, they have prohibited concurrent adoptions if you are waiting to adopt from China. Would someone please tell me how this makes any sense?

China still has a long way to go in regards to accepting and adopting it's children with special needs, so until that day arrives I think it's vital we still embrace the waiting child program.

just my 2c today.