New school, new friends, new challenges…..

We enrolled Arlo in the bilingual program at the Montessori school in our neighborhood. There are 4 other kids;  3 Vietnamese and a little girl from Canada.  The first day was rough. I was a big blubbering baby.  Which of course did not instill confidence in Lo. He was teary but, trying hard to be brave when I left.

When we picked him up in the afternoon his eyes were red and he looked exhausted. He ran over and hugged me.”Rough day?” Zeb asked. “Yes”  Arlo and I agreed.  Zeb put his arms around our shoulders and said “the first day is always hard, but tomorrow will be better. Lets get some ice cream…” My thoughts exactly! (the ice cream part, not the “tomorrow will be better” part… I was already thinking tomorrow might be worse).

I peered over my double scoop at Zeb and thought about how much he’s matured this year and hoped his first day would go smoothly. On the way home Arlo had his own helpful advice to share with Zeb.. “You might want to cry a little because then they treat you extra nice….” Hmmm, good advice I might try that at Pilates.

The next morning Zeb woke early. He said he had butterflies but seemed excited, I on the other hand had bats. Which as I’m sure you can imagine, is much worse than butterflies. So, to make myself feel better I said I’d walk Zeb in and say hello to his teacher.  As we opened the door I felt him tense up.  All of these new and different faces looking up at him.  Fighting back tears he started looking around. I knew he was sizing up the place.  We were both looking for an escape.  He inched towards the door.  I knew I had to get out quick. I slid a chair between us and slipped out…..I didn’t look back. Once again I was a big baby….Is 8:00 am too early for ice cream??

The next few mornings were BAD. I won’t tell you about all the tears, threats and bribes in detail but, suffice to say it wasn’t pretty…..just ask the neighbors.

After the first week Zeb bravely overcame his nerves and with head held high he would wave goodbye and go into his class even on the morning he puked in the hallway…….

Arlo did great after his first day. He came home and declared that he “almost made a friend but ran out of time and will probably do it the next day.” Sure enough when I came to pick him up there he was arm and arm with his new friend. They headed for the play dough table, sat down and started chatting. Henri in Vietnamese and Arlo in English. Neither understood the other but they were smiling and having a great time. Another example of how “same same” we are!  When it was time to go, Arlo said “bye”, and Henri said “tam biet”.  I asked Arlo on the way home if he knew what Henri was saying he said “no, I just smile and he talks. He’s a lot of fun”

Seems there may be a romance blooming between Arlo and Ms. Canada. I’ll keep you posted!

Zeb and Mr. O