Dima's First Day of School!

Today was Dima's first day of school and we were extremely pleased that it went a lot better than we expected! On Wednesday, Dima met his English as a Second Language teacher.  He absolutely did not want to go to school and meet anyone there.  I had to call Liliya at one point to translate something to him and he told her he did NOT want to go to school! I tried to ignore his attitude and continued with the meeting.  He at least somewhat acknowledged everyone he met, but you could tell he was not happy.  After we went home, I sat down with him and asked him if he would explain what he was feeling through Google Translate.  He said he thought he should wait to go to school until he knows English.  I explained that going to school would help him learn English.  He also explained that he didn't want the teachers to ask him questions in front of the class and that he felt he would look stupid just sitting there.  I explained that all we asked of him was to listen and learn more English.  His attitude changed after our discussion and seemed to feel better the next day when we went and registered him.  What a difference in attitude.  I think it helped that Dusty was able to come as well. All the teachers seemed extremely nice and willing to help Dima.  They also told us the students were excited to meet Dima.

The night before school Dima had his English lesson with Liliya.  We told her to tell Dima we were proud that Dima was very polite to his teachers when he met them. After his lesson, Liliya told us that she did most of the class in English with Dima!! Dima also explained that he was 50/50 with his thoughts on school.  That is a heck of a lot better than the day before when he said he did NOT want to go to school.

This morning when I woke up, I saw the school was on a 2 hour delay.  I figured I'd let him sleep in a little so he wouldn't have all morning to think about school.  He woke up at 7:30 and showered on his own! I had to explain what a snow delay was and he seemed ok about it.  Luckily I checked my email as his English teacher was so nice to email me that they were also going to have a fire drill at the end of the day.  I thought how in the world am I going to explain this to him! He seemed to understand but got a little frustrated.  I can only imagine how overwhelmed he must have been feeling at this moment. 

Before we got ready for school, I asked Dima if I could take some pictures for Papa since he was at work.  Here are a few.....

As you can see.....he didn't want his picture taken.

Unfortunately, Dima didn't want his picture taken.  He was in a good mood so I didn't want to ruin it and force him to be serious and get a good picture.  I drove Dima to school and pulled up to the front of the school.  I kept explaining to him that he was to meet his English teacher and not go anywhere until he sees her.  I gave him a hug and said go ahead and go in.  He pointed to me and said "You go too?".  My heart just melted and said "No, you have to go in yourself". He opened the door and went right in! What a brave boy! I couldn't even imagine how he was feeling at this moment.

Dima's schedule is basically normal except he has one period with his English teacher. The English teacher and another 8th grade student helped Dima get to his locker and get from class to class.  Luckily, two of Dima's teachers are great friends of ours so they both let us know that he was doing great.  His English teacher also let us know how his day went.  I went early to pick Dima up so he would not get nervous if I wasn't there.  Since they were to have a fire drill at the end of they day, I wasn't sure what door to meet him at.  Luckily, I parked where we did before because Dima came straight to the car.  The big smile and huge hug told me that he had a good day! He told me in English that he had some papers from school, what he ate for lunch and that he had friends!!! He was so excited! I think he was proud that he conquered his fear of school as he has been so happy all night.  Dusty and I are extremely proud of him too!

On a side note....Dima has only been here for 19 days and he has gained 10lbs already!!!