when we visited the girl’s teachers, miss jovina and miss helen, the teachers suggested we talk about sela first. this set a tiny bell off in the back of my mind that was to prove correct later.

apparently, sela has settled in well, and although she could spend all day in the bathroom (she even asked her teachers once where the hand lotion was after she completed washing her hands), she loves the art table. and puzzles. and, no surprise, sela is very competitive. she likes being first.

sela is causing carys a few issues. at the beginning of the morning, the kids come and find their names on the board, and then move them to another board, which indicates that they are present. sela is so quick that she finds her name, and then quickly locates carys’ and points it out to her, instead of letting her sister find the name. she will hover over carys’ shoulder if carys is having a tough time doing a puzzle and try to help her find the answer instead of letting her sister figure it out. sela is a bossy knickers, but she is motivated out of love. i believe this.

all in all, sela is making friends quickly and having a wonderful time at school. enthusiastic, happy, friendly, learning. playing with other kids. all words they used.

and then it was time to talk about carys. it was a real surprise for me to learn that the teachers felt that only in the last little while had carys started trusting them. apparently carys has only been making eye contact recently, and still only occasionally answers back when the teachers speak with her. what a surprise! since her second week at school, carys has told me that her best friends at school are miss helen and miss jovina and that she loves them.

they said that carys loves books and will read endlessly. not just being read to, she likes selecting her books and reading independently on a bean bag chair. puzzles aren’t really her thing.

"she isn’t really decisive" noted one teacher. "sela comes in in the morning, pulls out her mat and immediately knows what activity she wants to do. carys comes in after locating her name, and just watches what activities the other children are playing, looks around at everything, and eventually i will ask her what she wants to play."

this comment made me smile. that is so carys. she observes and then she chooses. her teachers followed up with, "sometimes i will look up, and carys will be watching me, not wanting anything, but just watching me."

carys  does need to learn to ask for help. there were a few times at snack when carys (when she wasn’t sitting beside sela) didn’t eat her snack because she couldn’t open the container and she didn’t ask for help.

but the best news i got, the sweetest news of the entire interview, came when the teachers said, "sometimes when the whole class is working on a project, helen and i will hear a noise, and we will look up and around. and it is carys, singing a little song to herself as she happily works away. you must do a lot of singing at home."

for some reason, the image of my shy little girl, unconsciously singing as she works and learns, made me very happy. i could just see her concentrating and and happy, carefree.

and on that note, their first year of school ended.