first day of school

Sofia is growing up!!

She starts the ECE (Early Childhood Education) program at Valdez Elemtary School this year. It is a bilingual Montessori program, and will be in a class where 1/2 of the children speak Spanish as their first language. She will be in a class with 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds. We are very excited for her, and think this program will be great! It is bittersweet, as I'm not quite ready to let her go for 5 mornings each week. I will definitely miss our mornings together, trips to the zoo, library, or playground. Sofia is very excited to go to school, but I anticipate after a few days she may be ready to stay home again.

Monday was Sofia's first day. When I dropped her off, she walked right in and got busy, just as if she knew what to do!

When I picked her up, it was a bit different. Sofia saw me in the hall, and started to head towards me. Her teacher, Miss Rachael, called her back in, saying she couldn't leave until Miss Rachael dismissed her. Our sensitive little girl of course took this as a punishment, and her smile quickly turned into a frown. Her poor little ego was hurt! When she was dismissed, I asked her how was school, and she replied, "I don't want to talk about it." We walked outside and she got excited telling me about the playground she played on. When we got to the car, she said, "I'm a little bit angry." I asked, "Was it because you had to learn some new rules?" She said yes. Then I used an analogy from her book Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? and asked, "Oh, do princesses have to follow the rules?" She smiled and replied, "yea" and I added, "That's one of the things they learn at school!" (Thank you aunt Barbara for giving us that wonderful book! It has become an amazing tool for us in learning the rules of life!)

Later I asked her to tell me about school, and she said, "I don't know about that school!" [sigh] I think we'll be processing what school is all about for a while! Today, though, she did tell me they sang a song about dinosaurs. Little by little I'll find out what happens in that new place!