Christmas is Coming

Dressed for the Concert

The last few weeks have been very busy getting ready for Christmas.  Last week the kids were busy at school with Christmas events.  The highlight was the Christmas Concerts.  There were two, one for the English program and one for the French Immersion program so I got to see two concerts.  Ricardo's Concert was first.  As you can see from the photo below, Ricardo did not enjoy the Christmas Concert.  In fact, the whole last week of school was highly stressful for him.    I think it was the constant practising of the song and then every day there was some event at school.  There was just no routine and he was stressed out about the whole thing.  I now regret putting him into school before the holidays.  I didn't realize that they would spend over a week celebrating Christmas.  It was just too much for him.

On stage

Singing the Christmas Song

Ali's concert was the next day.  I actually saw Ali in both concerts as she is in the choir.  Ali enjoyed doing her song.  However, most of Ali's week was normal I guess because she is in a higher grade.  They made cookies one day and that was it.

There was also a Christmas store at school.  People donated items and the kids could go in and buy a gift for a family member.  I spent the day at the school wrapping gifts the kids had bought for their family.  It was so cute seeing what they had bought their parents.  I was there when Ricardo came in and helped him shop since he didn't understand what he was supposed to do.

My sister also visited last week.  She had not met Ricardo yet as she doesn't often get weekends off.  She stayed 4 days and we visited the Milner Gardens Christmas light display.  We also went to a Christmas Play which Ricardo really enjoyed.  Ricardo really likes Tia Jackie as they both like the colour Orange.

Now that school is over, Ricardo is doing much better and he is looking forward to Santa coming.  Although, I don't think he really knows what that means and, since he is only speaking a tiny bit of English, I can't get an answer from him about what happened in Honduras.  I am sure he will enjoy Christmas Day.  Merry Christmas!

At Milner Gardens with Tia Jackie

Visiting with Santa

Ricardo and Ali

School

Ricardo has now completed two full weeks of school.  The first week was just for 2.5 hours a day so he could get used to the class.  We went in on Monday at 11:45, just in time to eat lunch with the other students.  When we arrived the class was in the gym so we had the room to ourselves.  We found a coat hook with Ricardo's name above it and a chair for him.  Then the class arrived.  The teacher had told the class that Ricardo was coming and that they all had to help him learn English.   I stayed and just watched.  The teaching assisant spent alot of time with Ricardo leading him around when they had story time and then centres.  He was happy to be there but did not interact with the other kids.  At recess, he stood alone for a long time and then a little girl came and led him around the playground.  Just before the end of the day the English as a Second language teacher came and found me and walked to her office and discussed Ricardo and she gave me another Education website for Ricardo.  At the end of the day, Ricardo was smiling so I guess he enjoyed it.

The second day I stayed for a shorter time and then the third and fourth day I left after 10 minutes.  Friday was a PD day so no school.  The teacher said that he did well on his own and that they were working with pictures with the word beneath to teach him English.  They had a card for chair and shoes and other items he would use in the classroom.  They also had a strip of pictures showing the morning routine - hang up coat, put on inside shoes, go to chair -  so he could learn the routine and the words to go with it.  The teacher said that he was very good at watching the other students to see what he was supposed to do.

Last week Ricardo went to school for the full day.  I didn't even go in the class but waited outside with him until the teacher came to let them into the classroom.  After his first full day he said "Fun, fun".  There were no problems the rest of the week and he was happy at the end of each day.

He really likes to get his stuff prepared for school each day and loves his homework.  The first day he had homework, he wanted to start it in the car.  I hope he maintains this enthusiasum.  He has a few more weeks before the Christmas break.  I am looking forward to seeing him in the Christmas Concert.  

Canadian Citizenship

Last week, I received Ricardo's Canadian Citizenship certificate in the mail.  This was the last big thing to happen for this adoption.  I have always felt that once I had this document, I would be finished.  The only thing left to do is to apply for BC Medical, since I needed the Citizenship card for this.  I have the form all filled out and will be taking it in this week.  Then I can get a passport and that will be the end of the paperwork.  Except post placement reports of course but I see those as something separate and not part of the completing the adoption.

The best news is that I got all my documents back.  When I was in Guatemala, the immigration officer took all the original adoption documents including Ricardo's birth certificate.  I was worried I wouldn't get these back but they were all there in the envelope.  That was a relief because getting a new birth certificate costs $200 US and I doubt I would be able to get the new copies of the adoption documents.

When I showed Ricardo his certificate he said "Beautiful".  The blue document below contains the signature that took us so long to get.