Some days you are the windshield and some days you are the bug!

We had such a great time this weekend, especially with Lisa and Marcie. Lisa is an amazing photographer even if she can't remember how to log on and posts under my name!



Then Sunday we had Chinese school.



Annabel's teacher showed pictures of his book signings in China at the first class. He is standing under a banner of Harvard's elite graduates in one picture. Among other things, he teaches Chinese at one of the local colleges.



He greeted me with exclamations of how BRILLIANT Annbel is, how she is smarter than anyone else in the class. In fact, he feels she is smarter than most of his college students. I thought to myself that I wish everyone could know but they would have to take the time to understand and translate.

After Chinese school was the great Chuck E Cheese. No lack of brains on that one, she completely understands the games and the PRIZES (a rubber lizard this time).

Dinner with Mom and Dad celebrating Grace and my fourth anniversary completed a great weekend.

But reality has to get in the way sometimes.

I have been trying to locate a doctor to do the surgery on Annabel's ears. There are none in our network. This means going outside the network and paying a LOT more, for every part of the procedure, doctors, tests, hospital, everything.

But after learning about what happened at school today it cannot be too soon.

Today Annabel was supposed to understand the orders her teacher gave and since she did not, she took her book, and put it on her desk. This was one of her treasured Chinese books.

I have no idea if Annabel could even hear the teacher, doubt that she understood (all in English), and probably was so scared she would be in trouble for losing that book that she sat at her desk and cried while the rest of the class went to lunch.

Finally Ms. Wu was available to come and explain.

By then lunch was over.

She had to eat alone.

That afternoon something else was said or done that made her cry again.

Now I just want to cry. This is a child who is very tough on the outside. Crying is very RARE. Fear is what she knows. I resent anyone who uses fear to discipline a child.

It reminds of the time when Grace came home so very sad. A classmate had told her she was Chinese, as if that was bad. He continued to use this against her for the next few years. Thankfully we could talk about it and find better ways of dealing with this perceived threat or disgrace. He had nothing else to intimidate her with other than her ethnicity, because she surpassed him academically, socially, and of course behaviorally.

How sad that parents raise their children to threaten and intimidate their peers. But in a position of authority it is even worse.

But if any of it is due to a lack of hearing, repairing her ears must be a priority.