Small Victories

I hope I don't sound preachy (I am trying to be supportive and helpful) when I tell Angela, the new member of the 5th grade team, to be grateful for small victories, because often that's the only kind you get.

So far this week, my small victory is that Dmytry had a conversation with me - one that he initiated and carried on for longer than needed for simple communication of basic needs. Dmytry is my sole Ukrainian kid, sorta sticks out a little. You might think of him as small blonde whitecap in a sea of earthy browns and tans.

Dmytry was here for third grade, went back to Ukraine for fourth, and returned to my threshold for fifth.  He's clearly a smart kid, and a little frustrated at first with his inability to be immediately fluent in English. For the first month or two he pretty much kept his communication with me to a minimum, asking in a small, stilted voice "Can I go out?" for frequent bathroom and water breaks. (Recently, without any prompting from me, he has progressed to "May I go to the bathroom" and "May I drink water.") I'm really impressed with the speed at which he's developing English, and my heart was warmed today when he had several minutes-worth of things to tell me about. I only understood maybe 65% of it, but I beamed at him anyway and responded with a vague all-purpose comment that I hoped fit the topic at hand. But anyway, that's never happened before. It was nice.  Small victory. Worth coming in on a frigid Monday feeling under the weather.

Add to the list of staircase questions: Why is the middle finger bad? and, How many zeroes does infinity have?

Also, just to clarify, all the names I'm using are pseudonyms. I just try to pick ones that match the kids.