In other words

I finally gave up on trying to talk Joey into staying in bed a couple of minutes ago, and he's playing with his trains at my feet.  He had an unusual day, though--he fell asleep as we were walking Ella back to school after lunch and slept for almost three hours.  And then, for dinner, he ate all of 4 hot dogs.  I suspect there's some growing going on.  We've certainly noticed a verbal explosion with him these last couple of weeks--he's been practicing his animal names and sounds particularly, because of the petting farm, I think.

The kids had good days at school today. We had to send Ella in to school for a 7:30 German class, although we discovered, once we got her there, that we were mistaken and she wasn't supposed to be in that group.  The class is made up of kids who are more advanced than Ella--she sat in on it, since it certainly couldn't do her any harm, but then she got to have a solo-session with her teacher for an hour after (a short) lunch.  Ella said they talked about classroom words: blackboard, window, pencil, etc. She'll have the same hour-long lesson every Thursday.  Her teacher said they're planning on giving her more solo tutelage than that, but the special needs teacher has been out sick, so they haven't been able to figure out a schedule for Ella. Dennis is having a conference with Ella's teacher next Monday, so hopefully we'll learn more about what we need to do for our girl, and what the school can do for her.  I did speak to Ella's teacher briefly today, though, and she said that Ella works very hard in class and is very good.  Nice to hear.  She also brought home a little German reader--I think she was a little embarrassed by how it looked like a preschool book, but she's not upset or anything.  I think she has very reasonable expectations for herself.

One of the first German words Ella's learned is "manure."

When I walked Alex in to school today, I noticed a little slight panic in his eyes as I left him at the door.  Joey and I crept around to the window and watched him as he entered the classroom after he'd hung up his things.  He paused in the doorway, took a deep breath to steel himself, and then walked purposefully over to the toy cupboard, grabbed a puzzle, and set to work on it.  He's told me he "feels shy of his teacher and classmates," and I admire his bravery.  I know I'm asking a lot of him. At the end of each day, he whispers his little list of worries to me: today a girl had a birthday and brought everyone a flower, except she didn't have enough for everyone, so as the flowers were passed around the circle, Alex and another girl were left out.  He said that the other kids noticed and were worried and upset on their behalf, but that the teacher didn't seem notice (although I'm sure she must have).  And then he said "but I was brave and a good sport." And I'm sure he was.

And, I'll tell you, every day this week that I've gone to pick him up, I peek in on him to see how he's doing: he always has the happiest smile.  Today he ran out the door and showed me a little shaker that the teacher had helped him make out of a toilet paper roll and some pebbles.  He said that they sang all kinds of songs with his shaker and the teacher played the piano. "When we sang," he said, "I watched all the other kids do their hand motions and I tried to do the same things that they did."  If nothing else, he's learning many, many coping skills.

Joey and I took our daily stroll to the grocery store to get our milk and bread (no preservatives in the food means we're not buying as much at a time, lest things go bad) and then we headed home to...dum de da dum!...put together the very last pieces of furniture!  I just have to stash our clothes away in our brand new wardrobe, and then we'll be completely settled.  What a relief!

Our expatriot experience thus far, in a nutshell

The kids were so cute after school on a cozy, rainy afternoon.  Here, the boys are playing with some little farm animal figurines, and Ella is writing in her journal.

She said it was okay if I shared a couple of entries with you, so this is her first week of school so far, in Ella's words:

10 Monday
Today I had my first day of school. I made new friends and played a game with Alex and I won the first game and also I got my 3 CHOCOLATE EGGS!!! YAY I AM SO HAPPY! I feel worried about school and, clearly, happy.

11 Tuesday
Today I shared my snack, popcorn, with my new friends. I have so many friends I can't go anywhere without at least one but that's a good problem to have.  I really like school and I feel so good about my friends. Clearly, I feel great.

12 Wednesday
Today I had a half-day and most of it was swim class. The only bad parts were the teacher didn't translate rules and I had to walk a long way to get to swim class. I don't have any thing else to say soooooooo, clearly, I feel like a mermaid.

13 Thursday
Today I learned a spooky song. It was basically Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, brother John, Brother John, Morning bells are ringing, Morning bells are ringing, Ding dang dong, Ding dang dong, but with a spooky tone. I'm beginning to like school a lot and I counted to 8529. Clearly I feel good. I mean great!

(The "clearly" is a convention that her first grade teacher taught Ella. That was how her teacher had her finish all her 1st grade journal writing.)

I think that's it for us today.  Joey's starting to look a little dazed, as am I, I'm sure.  Maybe we'll give bedtime a second try.