4 MONTHS AND COUNTING

Make a Smilebox photobook

3 and 7/12

Charlie has always done very well in school. In fact at the beggining of the school year the teacher, Silvia, commented how well he participatesd in class which suprised us a bit considering how timid and shy he is usually with the people. However right after Christmas when he went back to school, something changed. One day the teacher asked me if Charlie was different at home because he had changed drastically at school. Before, he would tell everybody what he had done (including the time he fell done the stairs with Leo) now he just shrugged his shoulders and wouldn´t speak. Before he was very independent and now he would just sit in the corner and cry because he couldn´t zip up his jacket or find his gloves. We knew that the birth of Clark had affected Charlie but we didn´t realize just how much. We knew time was the best cure but we also decided to make an even greater effort to make Charlie feel special, including special play dates with mommy and daddy and prizes for being a good boy. We also decided it would be fun to celebrate Charlie´s birthday at school. Charlie´s real birthday is at the beggining of September but school here doesn´t start until the end of September so we didn´t have the opportunity to celebrate it before. Every time Charlie brought home a paper that said that he didn´t have to bring a snack because it was some child´s birthday he asked me when we would celebrate his. So in the end we organized it to celebrate Charlie´s at the end of March. At first I wanted to try to celebrate right at his half birthday mark but that didn´t work out so it was more like 3 and 7/12. We brought little sandwiches, juice boxes and homemade cupcakes to share with everyone. (There are no rules for only store bought items here) What made the day interesting is that normally there are 24 kids in the class but the night before and that morning it had rained a lot which I guess means a day off for a lot of people here becuase of the 24 kids only 14 showed up. I told the teacher that if kids didn´t show up if it were raining where I come from, then they would never go to school. In the end, we had fun and Charlie really enjoyed wearing the special crown, passing out the food and blowing out the candles even though he did have some difficulties.

As a special gift for the kids we made little necklaces and goody bags that Charlie got to pass out at the end of the day.
Charlie has made a lot of friends at school. He had talked to me about them so much that of the 14 kids there I knew everyones´name but two.

School update: Although Charlie speaks mostly Spanglish he is improving in both languages. He recognizes when he is speaking in English and when he is speaking in Spanish. He can also write his name with out any help and he recognizes many letters and numbers. As we walk around town he will tell us what the letters are on the signs and if it is in his name or not. In fact, at school they have taught him to spell his real name Charles so when he sees his name Charlie he says it missing the S and that he doesn´t have a I.