The Spotlight's On You, Kid

Anyone who meets Elsa, and I mean anyone who speaks to her for more than 30 seconds, knows the girl loves to be in the spotlight. So, when months ago her teacher, the beloved Franny, announced that her class would be doing a Student Spotlight project Elsa began counting down the days until May 4th - the day all her classmates would gather around at her feet and yell, "Lights, Camera, Action!" before listening intently to Elsa talk about none other than herself for fifteen to twenty minutes.

Finally, April rolled around and we told her it was time to start preparing her presentation. We went to the CVS down the street and she picked out a bright green piece of poster board that she proudly carried around the store announcing to anyone that would listen that it was for her presentation. We spent a couple of nights going through the thousands of pictures I have of the kids on my computer and tried to narrow it down to pictures that told a story about who Elsa was. She would have been more than happy to include at least fifty percent of my pictures, but we were eventually able to narrow it down to three main topics: I Was Born in Ethiopia; My Family; and Things I Like to Do. I showed her a basic approach for laying out the pictures on her poster board - organize first and then glue - and she got to work. She worked independently with great attention to what she was doing - something that can normally be a challenge for her - until we called her to go do something else. The next night, she passed on watching a movie with Ashagre and contentedly finished up the rest of her poster.

As we started packing up boxes of books for the big move she picked out the special book she would share with her class on Wednesday, Tsion's Life, a book about a ten year old girl living in Addis Ababa. She also chose her special treasure to share with the class during her presentation on Friday - her red sock monkey that made the long journey back to America from Ethiopia with her. We crafted three clues to help her classmates guess what her treasure might be.

Her excitement poured out of her, even more than usual, and I couldn't help but get excited while helping her prepare for the big presentation. From the little girl that came home just over one year ago not even knowing she could have a favorite color, or a favorite anything for that matter (her world had been SO small in Ethiopia), Elsa has transformed into a confident extrovert who knows quite a bit about who she is and how the world works.

She is extremely proud of her Ethiopian heritage and loves sharing about Ethiopia with her class. One of the first pictures she chose for her poster was a picture of the outside of her dorm at her orphanage in Ethiopia. We talked about it a bit - that her classmates might ask her some hard questions if she included it - but she just looked at me unfazed and asked me to print it. She knows her story and embraces it - all of it, even the hard stuff.

On the big day, one little boy, who is a family friend and understands a little bit more about where Elsa and Ashagre came from because he watched it all unfold, asked, "Is that a picture of your orphanage?" She looked confused for a moment, but I knew she wasn't shaken. She was just looking for the right word. Until recently, we have been calling her orphanage Ethiopia House because that is how she referred to it as she was learning English. Lately we have been calling it by its official name or sometimes using the word orphanage. Once she understood his question she shrugged her shoulders and matter-of-factly answered, "Yep," and moved on to the next question.

The day of the presentation was just as magical as Elsa had made it up to be. She and Ashagre were both awake early and got dressed up for the big day. The whole family and our neighbor, Roman, arrived at the school and got settled in Elsa's classroom. After the morning greeting it was time. Elsa jumped up, grabbed the yard stick pointer, and started telling the class about herself. She was confident and spoke clearly, obviously in her element. The thing that got me the most was her poise and calm focus - Elsa's usually just a little bit too enthusiastic, a little to eager to garner someone's attention and keep the spotlight shining her way, but standing in front of her classmates, she listened carefully to their questions and made sure to give each of her friends her full attention.

Besides her pictures she shared the following information with her class:

• Favorite color: purple (usually pink and red, but I think the spotlight may have thrown her off)
• Favorite book: her Ethiopia books
• Favorite animal: monkey and dogs
• Favorite food: apples (both Brent and I had to chuckle at this one - we're constantly begging to eat her apples in her lunch)

She also shared that her red monkey was special because her mommy and daddy gave it to her and it came with her on the airplane from Ethiopia.

To wrap up the presentation Elsa introduced each of her guests. She was supposed to introduce us and say one thing she likes to do with each of us. Each guest, in turn, was supposed to state what they liked to do with Elsa. She introduced me first, stating she likes to snuggle on the couch with me. I had to admit that was my favorite thing to do with her too. She introduced her dad next and stated that she likes it when her dad tickles her. He also had to admit that was his favorite thing to do with her. She introduced Ashagre and said that she likes to play outside with him. After finding his words (a big feat for a shy little boy) he told everyone he likes to ride bikes with Elsa. Finally, she introduced Roman and said she likes it when Roman makes her laugh.

That was it, Elsa's fifteen minutes of fame had ended (at least for that day - I have no doubt there will be more). We gave her big hugs and wished her a great rest of the day at school. She beamed. When I swung by the coffee shop on my way to school I noticed a cute little charm necklace with a shining star on it. I couldn't help myself; I picked it up for her as a reminder that she shines every day, in or out of the spotlight (not that she needs a reminder).

All dressed up for the big day. My momma-heart melts.

Elsa's class sings I Think Your Wonderful to her. Yes, her teacher plays guitar
throughout the day as a teaching tool. Did we tell you we love Franny?

In case you've been worried that Ashagre hasn't been
getting much attention on the blog lately, don't worry,
Elsa's not hogging the spotlight. He's just been pretty
camera-shy lately. I have to catch him when he's not
expecting it; I couldn't resist on this one of him eating
his clam chowder after his baseball game.