Big day!

Yep, it sure is a BIG day for my muffin. And I'm so proud of him for being such a brave little guy. Speaking of bravery I'm pretty proud of myself as well! :D Okay so what's the "big" deal? Well, today is Kenji's 1st day of Kinder!! Believe me it's a huge deal, well at least for me, as he's still my little boy - he's not even 2 1/2 yet :( - and yet he's growing up so fast in so many ways.

When dropping him off this morning, at 9:00, I was filled with so many emotions; happiness at seeing how fast he's growing up, pride at seeing him walk away with his teacher and attempting to be a brave boy, sadness at having him be away from me for some time and watching his face be a bit perplexed that I wasn't joining him at school, worry as far as whether he will understand the teachers, get along with the kids, inform his teacher when he's got to go potty, or come back to me safe and sound to name a few. :D

I know I shouldn't worry myself sick with these things because he will probably be just fine, as many people have assured me of this. Yet, I think its natural for a mother to worry a bit about her kids first day at school, no? It's just a motherly instinct to be preoccupied about your child's well-being. But that doesn't mean you have to let your worry or imaginations get the better part of you. :D So, for the duration of his school hours (till 1:00 pm) I will do my best to not worry for him, but rather pray for him to do well and adjust easily to all the new things he his experiencing.

Alright, just to clear things up a bit. He's not going to be attending the Kinder full-on, I'm just putting him in for a couple of months. Simply to have him "grow-up" a bit more in the sense of being away from mommy, and I think it will also help him learn more Spanish and speak it. He's talking quite a bit, but it's still just parts of phrases and sentences. I guess not having other kids, both his age and a bit older, to 'copy' or learn from has sort of made his speech development a bit slower in coming. So, DV, this will help him a bit in those areas as well as help him socialize a bit more with kids his age and others in general.

Oh, the reason this all came to be is because a friend of ours, a faithful 12 stones student, who happens to be the principal of this upper class Kinder/Primary school offered to have him attend free of charge. That in itself is quite a miracle as private schools are sooo freaking expensive! And the nice thing about it is that the Kinder is only 2 blocks away! So, I prayed about it and the Lord gave me the green light, with of course some cautions and steps to follow to ensure that this experience be a pleasant and fruitful one.

9:30 am - So, there you have it! I'll let you know how Kenji did on his 1st day of school later today when he gets back and gives me the run-down. :) So stay posted! Here are some pix before he went off to school and other ones from last week's happenings. :)

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2:30 pm - Okay I added a couple more photos since Kenji returned from school now. His teacher said he did fantastic. He was a bit nervous and uncertain of participating at first - missing mommy, no doubt - but after a while he got over it and had a great time. He behaved well AND he was a dry shiner! I'm SOOO proud of him.

When I went to pick him up I had to wait about 5 minutes while they brought him to me and upon seeing me Kenji broke out into this huge "puchero" it was sooo darling and sad at the same time. His face was one of "why did you leave me, mommy?" :(

I picked him up and he held on tightly to me while giving a huge sigh of relief. On our way home I asked him if he liked the little school to which he nodded "no" with a very stern and serious face. Ha! But then I went on to asking him what he did and he told me they played at the play-place, colored, read a story, and "lots of stuff" as he put it in his own words. So I asked him if he wanted to come back tomorrow and he shyly said "yes." Ha!

When inquiring if he had eaten his mid-morning snack he said yes, but that the teacher didn't put his bib on and he said he only ate a little bit of his gordita and then he gave the rest to a little girl because she was hungry, so he ate his apple instead. Awww, so sweet! What a considerate little gentleman he is :P or his inherent flirting (ahem) is coming out at such a young age. Hee-hee.

Well now the biggest hurdle (first day of school) is over with (whew) now lets just pray that things continue to go well. :) Thanks!