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September 05, 2006
Kindergarten butterflies
The day started with a very tired Willik, having arrived from Florida around 10:30, but going to bed around midnight, it wasn't the ideal restful night before the big day, but... such is life.
Since Fabio wasn't working today, Phoenix got to stay with dad, while Willik and I made our way to his new school.
We didn't encounter much traffic, and after a short go around, I found a spot just down the block from the school.
We took our time getting out of the car, and then Willik started to express his feelings of shyness, hurting stomach, and general unhappiness about what was to come. I told him they were butterflies in his tummy. :)
We made our way to the front of the school, and I took this chance to get some photos of him, which clearly show his "unsure" expressions.
We hung around for a while before attempting to enter the school. I was going to get to stay in his school for an hour, and then it would be students only...
The guard told us to wait at the side entrance, and at this point we saw a familiar face--someone from Rainbow; that immediately made Willik feel a bit better, and just a bit more relaxed.
Finally, after standing around for several minutes, we were ushered inside, toward his new classroom. Everyone slowly made their way into the class--kids getting name tags, parents shaking the teacher's hand and introducing ourselves.
Everything looked neat and colorful. Everything had a place and everyone had a place to sit with their name on it. A unit wth 4 desks, each with his or her own sopace for storing all the new school supplies we brought in.
They started right away working on a craft project, and as time passed, Willik seemed really into it, getting 2 instead of 1 "person" made. I took more photos, and tried to take it all in.
After everyone finished their projects, some parents started to leave.
Then came a story, "The Kissing Hand" with another related craft, intended to help the children feel okay about missing mom and dad, and what to do when missing them.
At this point, I started getting ready to leave, and this is when, again, Willik started to get very attached to me; he wanted to sit on my lap, he wanted to hug me, he wanted me to stay, or to go with me.
I expected that this would be hard for the first few days, but I guess I didn't imagine what it might "look" like.
Willik is generally easy going, loving and playful, but he's not usually very attached to me, or clingy. He likes to have fun, and genrally speaking, is pretty well-adjusted, but he definetly was showing a different side today.
I managed to encourage him to stay and try to enjoy, and that I'd be back soon. I left, and at my last glance, his attention seemed to have gone to other things.
In less than 2 hours, I had to be back at the school, so, I ran a couple errands, got Fabio and Phoenix, and we made our way back to P.S. /I.S. 499. We were early, we got a good parking spot, and we waited a long time before dismissal. The teachers only released the kids to us when they saw our faces.
Willik looked happy, and well adjusted, and happy to see us.
He said he will only have "a little bit" of butterflies tomorrow...
He did look very cute in his uniform clothes, and his teacher, Mrs. Shirata seems really nice. I even hear she's one of the top teachers for the lower grades. Yay! Click on the link belo for pictures, and let me know what you think...
One down, One to go --Phoenix's first day is tomorrow.
Posted by glassgirl at September 5, 2006 11:35 PM
Responses
Thanks for the link and the story. I felt like I was there.
Posted by: Abuelo at September 6, 2006 10:29 AM
Oh, he looks so sad there... poor guy! At least he seemed happy today! :-)
Posted by: Raquel at September 6, 2006 09:51 PM
wow. kindergarten. what a big boy! he has really changed since the summer. i am so glad for your blog. otherwise i would not know what is going on with you and the kids! (life is so busy for us all.) good luck in your art endeavors. you'll do great! call if you can. lots going on here as well. no time to blog.
Posted by: rg at September 19, 2006 01:00 AM