Mummy ....School?

Ben and Maddie are both now officially enrolled for Kindergarten in the fall. They'll be in the same class, and were both pretty excited to get a trip to the school. Our timing was great, as Cassies class was just lining up for lunch, and they thought it all the more cool that they got to see their big sister. Cassies teacher also made a point of coming to find us so that she could meet Ben, which was very sweet of her. We stopped by on the way out and said Hi to the Principal, and she confirmed that she had received approval to place Ben in kindergarten AND in the same class as Maddie.

That night it became obvious that Ben expected to be heading to school the next day. He got into bed no problems at all, and told his sisters "Benjamin sona (sleep) ....school!" ..... Yeah ..Uh-oh. I'd wrongly assumed that he would take a long while to settle in and that starting in the fall would be a great time for him. Not in his little complex mind. Luckily the next morning we didn't have any meltdowns, but it was easy to see he was confused as to why he wasn't getting to go too. Its only another 6-7wks until the end of the school year here, so I wasn't holding out too much hope of getting them into any preschools, but I figured it was worth a shot. My first phone call was to the pre-school that Molly had attended for a year before going to school, and they were prepared to work with us! I explained our circumstances and asked if there was any way at all they could slide the 2 youngest kids in for a couple of days a week between now and the end of the school year, and they will! We go up on Monday to meet the teacher (who is luckily the same lady who was there when Molly was there, and shes fabulous). I still haven't decided whether to send them 2 days or 3 days ... we'll wait and see how Monday goes. I'll take our Hindi cheat-sheet with us so we can leave a copy for the teacher. I'm not sure if Ben realises that school means that Mummy won't be staying with him, so we'll have to wait and see on that one too. As excited as he is at the prospect of going to school, I suspect he'll be sending me on my way with a wave and a "Bye!". Monday we're going just an hour and a half before school finishes for the day, so I'll be able to stay with them. On Wednesday (if Monday goes well), they'll do the full 9am-12pm.

He's definitely more ready for this whole school thing than I am. I was quite comfortable with the fact that we'd have a whole 5 months together before we got to deal with that. As with everything though, we're moving at his pace and this is what he wants to do. I worry about things like how hes going to tell me how his day was ... hows he going to defend himself if another kid picks on him, ... and a million other things. To this point our language differences havent been a huge issue, as he does an outstanding job of making himself understood. I guess I have to suck it up and find comfort in the fact that the preschool is only 5 minutes from the house, and I am 100% contactable via cellphone. I trust them to call me if ANYTHING happens with him, and I can be right there. I know this will be such an awesome thing for him ...their classes are super-small and their programme offers a great balance of socialisation and structure. We'll see how Monday goes.

As a side note, please light a candle and spare a thought for a very special friend of mine who lost her husband very suddenly yesterday to a heart attack. They were an amazingly special couple who shared the kind of love that so many people out there can only ever dream of having. I know her heart is shattered right now, and I cant even begin to imagine the overwhelming sadness she is experiencing.

Sometimes its very hard to make sense of this crazy life we're living.