Ella was feeling out of sorts this morning--all of her anxiety about school is manifesting itself in her nervousness about changing for gym class in front of her classmates. She was adamant that she only wear plain white underwear (no little bears or rainbows, please!) and she really wanted to hide under her covers.Dennis took Ella up to her school again, and I delivered Alex to his class. We got their early, and all of the little kids (wearing reflective vests--it's still quite dark in the morning) were clustered by the door, asking me questions I couldn't understand. One girl in particular seemed to be everywhere, asking me questions, until I realized she was actually a very talkative pair of twins.
Alex's teacher was ready for me today, with a packet of first-day papers that Dennis and I are going to scratch our heads over tonight. She did her best to translate and pantomime to me the most vital things. I need to bring in an inoculation record tomorrow for Alex: I know this much is true! I also learned that a dentist visits the Kindergarten class six times each year to fluoridate the children's teeth. There's no fluoride in the water here; they only add it to the salt, and apparently that isn't sufficient.
After all of our agonizing at the shoe store yesterday, we still didn't get all of the right shoes for Alex. (I could see the teacher restrain herself from slapping her head at my stupidity.) He needed something that looks like ballet shoes for gym class, so Dennis and I hoofed it to the shoe store (which, luckily, opened at 8:00) to get Alex the appropriate shoes before he left to walk to the two blocks to Ella’s grade school for his 9:00 gym class.
I only just made it--we spotted the little line of children, walking two-by-two, just like Madeline, holding hands and heading to the gym. I practiced my 100 m dash and caught up, breathless, to deliver the shoes. There. That's done. And at least his teacher knows my intentions are good.
And then Joey and I found ourselves with something we haven't had in a month: several hours of quiet, just him and me. Some other day we'll get more creative with our free time, but today we had many, many boxes of things arriving, so we snuggled up, turned on the tv, and put together some bookcases. Now I've spent years watching cartoons with Alex and Ella, and I feel as though I have several of the series memorized. Now it's time to watch those same series auf Deutsch. We watched Mickey Maus Wunderhaus, (aka Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) and Dora the Explorer and learned a little along the way. I'm setting Sesame Street to record tomorrow, and am a little surprised at myself and how excited I am to watch it.
Noon came quickly, and we made our way back to Alex's school. We got there ten minutes early and peeked in the window: all the kids were sitting in their chairs in a circle, singing the Hokey Pokey, and Alex had a happy smile. He was the last kiddo out of the school when the bell rang--I think he might have had trouble changing out of his shoes and gathering his things. His teacher said he did well, but he seemed really tired at the end of the day. I'm sure he did.
As soon as we left the door, Alex pulled me down and whispered "I had to change my clothes in front of all the boys." Ah, someone's been listening to his sister. He also said that lots of people in his class were allergic to popcorn, so he couldn't eat his popcorn snack (hmm...) but no one is allergic to pears, so could he have more of those, please. And that his teacher made him play in a little tiny place with not many toys at all, just two cars, while other kids got to color. Alex, did you ask your teacher if you could color? Well, he wanted to, but every time he tried to talk to her, she was busy. Ah well, he's always been a shy one...he'll make his way, though. And, all in all, he had a really good day. For one thing, his teacher had assigned him a buddy, Nina, whom Alex has decided he'll marry.
Ella was walking on air when I got her. She really enjoyed her popcorn snack, and so did all of the other girls in her class. Ella laughed at how excited everyone was about the popcorn and how much she enjoyed sharing, although she only got a couple of pieces for herself. And one girl kept trying to teacher her how to waltz! And gym class was really fun and she figured out a way to change without anyone seeing her underwear! And, and and...!
And she was hungry! Little Ella wolfed down four eggs and two pieces of toast and two cups of juice before I took her back to school for round two.
The movers came just after I got Ella off, bringing us boxes and boxes to deal with. But those boxes contained toys! Since it was a rainy, rainy day, I didn't feel bad about keeping the boys inside: they played with their long-lost trains and cars while I dealt with my year's supplies of cough medicine, deodorant, peanut butter, and so forth and so on. I still haven't even touched our boxes of extra clothes--we have a wardrobe to assemble first. (The only closet in the apartment is the front hall coat closet.)
We dodged the raindrops on our way to pick up our still-giddy Ella. But, ugh, she had sheets and sheets of papers for me, all of which I suspected were homework. I didn't want to leave it until Dennis got home, because that would have been so late, so she and I did our best to muddle through what I suspected was her math assignment and her vocabulary assignment. The kids in her class are learning modes of transportation in English (bike, boat, helicopter, etc.) so Ella and Alex and I are now learning modes of transportation in German. I'm relieved to say that Ella seems to pick up vocabulary pretty quickly. Although she was very reluctant to study at first...she'd just had a bookcase full of books delivered!
We got through it, though, and had our dinner, baths, and bed. And now I'm off to glare at the clutter some more. I'll feel so much better when it's gone...soon, soon!
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