He could not have been more exciting for his first day of school, even flossing his teeth all by himself, wanting to look his best for Lydia (so he said). Unlike the kids clinging to their parents, David asked, "You're not staying, right Mom?" When I told him no, he shouted, "Yes!" with his fist in the air. Yep, I was the only one with tears that first day. What did Jack do as David got ready for school? He camped out in the hallway in a makeshift pillowcase sleeping bag. I guess with big brother gone, he was ready to catch up on some much needed R & R.
That first day Jack seemed lost without his big brother, wandering the house calling his name, but since then he has come to enjoy the one-on-one time with mom and the frequent visits to Dad's office, which is just a few blocks from the school. We've been doing some serious play with Cars and superheroes, as well as coloring and doing flash cards. Jack is pretty enthusiastic about learning and will be ready to join the big 3 year-olds in preschool soon.
David was not nearly as enthusiastic when I picked him up from school that first day. He trudged out the door somberly and announced, "The teacher said I was bad the whole time. I got a bad grade. You taught me to be a good kid mommy, but I'm never going to be good. Why is school so HARD?!" This was not encouraging feedback from his first day of Kindergarten. After much explaining of the differences between Transformer Preschool and Spanish Kindergarten as well as some tips for avoiding the "bad list," he was ready the next day to try again. After school I asked how it went. He said he had tried raising his hand when he wanted to speak, but the teacher didn't call on him. After explaining again why that is (33 students and 1 teacher), I asked him what he was going to say. He said, "I was going to say to the teacher: Is all this really necessary?" Ha! I wish she would have called on him. Hilarious. For the remainder of the week, he struggled with his name constantly ending up on the bad list. At Back to School Night, the teacher explained that he wants to roam the class and visit with each kid. Hmm I thought, "The teacher must not know any Sorensons because that is what they DO." None of them can exit a restaurant without meeting and greeting all the guests. I'm not sure how we will work around this. I started volunteering at school to be able to assess the situation and better help David adapt. The spanish is intimidating and overwhelming to him, as is to be expected. The other day he said, "I just don't know what 'como estas' means." When I told him that it means: how are you? he asked, "How do you say: not very well?" Both of his buddies are struggling with the motivation to go to school too, but we are hopeful that things will improve with time. Yesterday he told Rich and I that school made his tummy feel like the "Tower of Terror." Not good. We'll give it a few more weeks and see if things improve. Meanwhile, Rich and I are reading with him at home and giving him much love and encouragement. I guess that's all you really can do. What a brave little muchacho.
2 comments:
Oh, I'm so sorry that David is having a hard time with it so far. Hopefully, it becomes easier with time. I, too, would be overwhelmed with Spanish so good for him! I think it's harder on boys
So sad! At least Rachel had a year of school in before she started the French immersion. That way, it wasn't such a shock. I am sure things will improve. It is really fun to hear them speak another language. Rachel has an awesome French accent!
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