Two weeks ago, Emalie started her Level 1 Chinese Culture class at CCAI (the country's largest Chinese adoption agency here in Denver). It has been interesting seeing her reaction to the other Chinese kids and her behavior in a classroom setting. She definitely marches to the beat of her own drum. When the other kids are sitting nicely in circle time, Emalie is canvasing the perimeter seeing what else she can do instead. Oh, this child is a stubborn one! As we've been prepared with our training classes prior to bringing Emalie home, most (if not all) adoptive children will endure stages of grief over the path that has brought them to where they are now and the losses they have endured. After the first week of class (she only attends for 45 minutes one day a week), there were some obvious changes in her behavior. She was extremely clingy to me (usually she is to Sven) and irritable. We spoke with a friend who is an adoptive mother and therapist specializing in adoption and attachment issues. She said each child reacts differently, but most children will have some sort of reaction when immersed in her native culture. This made me worry that we had made the wrong decision to enroll her in this class at such a young age. But as another mother and the therapist said, this reaction is inevitable and they believe it's better to begin at a younger age and do it little by little. So, trusting in the professionals and others with this experience, she will remain in school. Yesterday was her third class. She was so excited to go. Her distracted behavior was a little more in focus and she seemed to make a new friend-- a 2-1/2 year old girl who was just adopted this summer. From the class, we receive language CDs that we listen to in the car. Emalie cried the first time I turned it off because she wanted to keep listening to "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in Mandarin. And, after yesterday's class, I can now sing "Happy Birthday to you" in TWO languages. (How about that?!) I think this school is a wonderful way for us to learn more of the culture and language of Emalie's homeland. To top it all off, Friday Emalie will be re-adopted here in US court....crossing all of our t's and dotting our i's......bringing another level of formality to her place in our family. Boy are we blessed!
