Julia update

I alternately worry about Julia’s progress and feel like she is learning and growing every day. The worries are about being ready for kindergarten this fall and her behavior. This morning we went through the 4 inch stack of word cards that we have. These are two series of cards to communicate with an older adopted child and common words for a non-English speaking child to learn. I was happy that Julia knows more than half of these cards and many of the words she doesn’t know have not been our experience. She also sat on the floor cross-legged for a bit more than 20 minutes as we worked through these cards and was patient saying those that she knew.
We’ve had to get out our naughty chair this past weekend and Julia has needed to sit in it at least once a day. She still makes a good deal of noise sitting down and will almost fight with the chair for about 10 minutes or so, but she does calm down faster and is willing to apologize as soon as she is calm.

Julia has kept up a morning montra that she is "not going to schoola". She usually says/asks me this when she first wakes up. I answer that this is summer and she doesn’t have to go to school but in the fall, she will go to school because that is her work. We also pass her school regularly when we drive around and I point it out. Just yesterday, I say that the school library is open two days a week. I will try to get there next week to see if we can go into the school. I hope that eventually she likes school, right now, I am hoping that I can get her into the building without a major tantrum.

This Fourth of July was Julia’s first and we had a full day. We went to a picnic that the neighborhood held and met some of our neighbors. Some very nice folks who I look forward to getting to know. Lots of kids and some interesting families. Generally, people were welcoming and felt that we had come to a much better town that we left.

After lunch, we went swimming and Julia and I went down the big slide a few times. Then we went home and mellowed out for a bit. We had some supper and went over to Monona, about a 15 minute drive, to see their fireworks. We were early enough to walk through the "fair" and put Julia on a few rides. Yes, she will be our daredevil! She loved the little roller coaster – went on it twice and the second time seemed to know that she should sit on the back for the "best" ride. There was a dragon ride going up and down in a circle (I remember this same ride as having air planes), cars and trucks in a circle, and the merry-go-round. Julia did want to go on the wild adult rides, and I hope that she has some good friends when she is ready for those rides.

Minutes before the firework display began, we found a spot on a great lawn to put our blanket down. We sat amidst a large crowd of people and Julia was pretty good about sitting and waiting. After a hot dog and a visit to the bathroom, the fireworks began. Julia sat in one of our laps the entire time. She held on for dear life and squealed and screeched at the noise; she buried her head in our shoulders at times, but I think she enjoyed them. She named colors and shapes at they exploded in the sky.

Like our celebrations of other holidays with Julia, we did not make a big deal of the name or the meaning of the day. I feel that will come, I hope that curiosity for that will come. I will post pictures later today.