Olia had another cheerleading competition yesterday. It is an all-day event! She just loves being a cheerleader. She is all smiles on the floor. She especially enjoys the time in the stands when all the girls are dancing in the bleachers. Between each squad performance the announcer usually plays lively rock music and all the girls in the stands dance! And Olia dances away. I love watching how happy she is being part of the entire day. She also likes the part of eating junk food at the events. I always wonder why sports events don't offer healthy food. It is always pizza, soda, coffee, donuts, popcorn, chips, ice cream, etc. I wonder why they don't offer juice and fruit!
After the competition, Olia invited her friends Leah and Amy over to our house. They are the nicest girls. Leah and Amy are sisters and they attend Olia's elementary school. The girls played nicely for several hours. They made up a cheerleading dance routine that Dan and I watched. When their dad came to pick them up, he got to watch the routine too.
Dan set up a small train next to our Christmas tree. Olia had to be part of the set-up. Olia wants to experience every opportunity. She is not content to sit and watch. She wants to be part of things.
Today I chatted with my friend who has been an ELL teacher for over twebty-five years. SHe told me that Olia should not be graded on grade level material. I think Olia is about on a third to fourth grade reading level, but all of her LA work in school is fifth grade. SHe does not even get extended time to complete any schoolwork. I have a meeting on Friday with her ELL teacher and her two classroom teachers. Olia's teacher has been out since the beginning of the school year because she had brain surgery. She is now just back working half days with the substitute teacher. So I need to meet with all of them and work on an educational plan for Olia that fairly judges her performance.
Renee could not find her IPOD in AUg. SHe usually takes very good care of her things. One day, she just could not find it anywhere. She searched all over the house; she knew that she had listened to it in her room the last time she had seen it. And she knew that she had not taken it out of the house. She eventually purchased a new IPOD and told Olia that she could have her old IPOD if it turned up. Olia has been searching for Renee's old IPOD for months! Over the weekend, Dan took Christmas decorations out of the guest room closet. Hidden underneath the stack of wreaths was Renee's IPOD as well as two sterling silver necklaces of Renee's. One necklace is very near and dear to Renee's heart because it contains apicture of Amy. SHe had not been able to find that necklace for months. Another expensive sterling silver necklace was also hidden under the wreaths. The guest roomis the room that Dasha slept in. We can only think that Dasha hid the jewelry and the IPOD in the closet. She was facinated by Renee's IPOD and really wanted one. She also loved the two necklaces that Renee wore everyday. It never occurred to me that Dasha might have taken the items, but Renee says that there is no other way that the items could have gotten in the closet under wreaths in the guest room. They were definitely hidden underneath a stack of wreaths; they wre not carelessly thrown on top of something. It makes me sad that Dasha would try to steal from renee. Renee was always so nice to Dasha. We gave Dasha freedon in our home. I never thought to check what she was doing every minute. And it never crossed my mind to ask her if she had taken the missing necklaces and IPOD. Maybe she will feel more secure when she has her own family; hopefully, she won't feel the need to steal when she is part of a family. We are hosting a ten year old at Christmas and I am going to be more careful this time. I know that orphans are not always treated well and have things stolen/taken from them. But I don't want them stealing from us.
