Pre-School

We are running a preschool of one here. Our visits have become golden opportunities to take a very learning starved child from mental poverty to mental gymnastics. We are working on colors, numbers, letters, shapes and a whole host of other concepts. He is a bright boy. We enjoy watching him make connections and making the huge leap from his language to English.


Aaron does not directly converse with us at this point. He communicates mainly by pointing, but because his hands aren’t very useful for pointing, he has developed other methods. When he’s barefoot, he points with this toes. He also nods in the intended direction. But when he’s really engaged, he points with his upper lip. This lip is actually a bit stretched from doing this so much. It’s one of the cutest things you’ll ever see. Lip pointing is just one of his many endearing little habits.

It is very hard to gauge how much verbal ability he has compared to other children his age. We would venture a guess that he has a limited vocabulary and limited sentence structure. This is not because he lacks cognitively, but because he has lacked opportunities for meaningful conversation. We look forward to the day when he begins to communicate with us more verbally.

Not that the boy can’t talk when he wants to. When the mood strikes him or the moment comes, he can spew out a clear fountain of native words at a high level of volume. He uses them mainly to ensure that the other boys in his group are all where they’re supposed to be, doing what they’re supposed to be doing. The nurses call him a little boss because of this, but we think he’s just an orderly personality-- a rule-keeper, like a lot of firstborns. When Elijah was with us he talked to Elijah a bit, brother to brother.

There is also the possibility that he merely thinks we are the stupidest people he’s ever met because we don’t know the simplest words in his native language.

We are definitely going at his pace. After writing his letter “B”, he has decided that he has mastered the letter category and will erase any of our attempts to teach him more. He hasn’t connected the B with written language yet. He is happy to just scribble. Considering that the only writing tools he has ever had are sticks and dirt, we’re happy to let him do things his way. We let him enjoy scribbling in a Winnie the Pooh coloring book, on a write-on wipe-off board or on the magna-doodle to his little heart’s delight. He has the rest of his life to write those silly letters.



For all those thoroughly confused about Aaron’s name…. We ARE going to call him Aaron. His birth name and his nickname we will reveal when the adoption is completed.  No, Sam, my footwork is pitiful compared to Aaron's.  Anyway, every time I try to do something with my foot, he removes the pen and makes me do it with my hands!!