Goodnight Gorilla

So, I was getting ready to write some good things that have happened lately when I was interrupted by shouting from the kitchen. Lalie was trying to dish out ice cream for them both and there was only a very small amount of the coveted rainbow sherbet left (Lydia calls it pink ice cream). Lalie dished herself a clearly larger portion of it and then tried to convince Lydia that it wasn't a big deal and then put vanilla in Lydia's so that she had some other ice cream to make it all look like a good amount. Well, of course that didn't sit well with Lydia who said (in a very shrill voice), "Look! Me small! You big! Lalie!" Screaming and tears ensued from both girls. Following this incident, only adults will be scooping ice cream in the future - or, maybe there won't be any ice cream at our house for awhile...

We had just gotten home from eating dinner up at our Top Foods grocery store where we had to go to buy about twenty more bananas. Those will last us about four or maybe five days if I'm lucky. Lalie hates bananas - it's Lydia who eats about four a day. I eat one. Anyway, even though the sweet and sour sauce spilled all over the table and onto Lydia's sleeve, and even though the sesame seeds spilled all over the table and onto the floor, we had a good time. This is probably one of those, "You had to be there," stories but I'll give it a shot. Last night we read a book called Goodnight Gorilla. It has always been one of Lalie's favorites and Lydia had requested it last night. It only has a few words in it and most of them are things like, "Goodnight Lion" and "Goodnight Giraffe." There is a page where all the animals say goodnight to each other in the dark, even the mouse whose is really tiny. We all three did them with big and tiny voices last night. Today at dinner Lydia started saying, "Goodnight Gorilla, Goodnight Lion," etc. then she said "Goodnight Lalie" in the mouse's voice and we cracked up. This went on for awhile and Lalie said, "Mom, it's your turn, you haven't done one." Lydia looked at me and in a big booming deep voice said, "GOODNIGHT MAMA." I just busted up laughing. She so very clearly "gets" things and then can apply them right away to other situations.

I recently had asked her teachers how she was doing in school and here is the reply from her ELL teacher:
I haven't been able to work with Lydia directly since the week before last due to WASL, but before that, I can say she was making amazing progress all around. When I have seen her and worked with her, she has been unfailingly cheerful, responsible and responsive. Her vocabulary has been growing rapidly and I was so impressed with how quickly she picked up and started using phrases I taught her like "Can I have . . ." and "Can I go. . ." in increasingly complex ways. When she has been off task, she has responded to my redirection. She loves the computer and has quickly learned to use a couple of the language learning programs we have. She seems very, very bright and has taken every opportunity to learn and interact. I am truly amazed with how she has adjusted so readily to this very challenging situation.

So, with that, and my brother's very wise comments (!) I'm leaning toward moving Lydia on to third grade next year. I haven't mentioned anything to her school at this point so I'm just going to continue to hang out and watch for awhile longer. Thank you all who have emailed me your input. Keep 'em coming. Based on the email responses it's probably running about half and half at this point.