More First Day Smiles

I wasn't planning on starting Vivian in preschool quite yet, but the idea of having a couple of "free" mornings for doctors' visits, grocery shopping, and other necessary errands BY MYSELF for just a few months was just too appealing. She will be going on Monday and Wednesday mornings, and the boys will be going those mornings plus Friday morning, so I will still have a morning with just Vivian. They were all very excited about the first day. Vivian was so proud of her backpack and lunchbox. You could tell she thought she was a big kid the way she prissed around with them. I walked the kids in and took Vivian to her class first. She was now not that excited about it. She cried and cried when I got ready to leave. I kept telling her that Mommy will be back and left her in the arms of Ms. Melanie to take the boys to their classrooms. The boys are in different classes for the first time ever! I think this will be good for them. William tends to dominate Henry sometimes, so Henry definitely needs some William-free time, if nothing else! :) The boys settled in to their classes very quickly, and I walked back by Vivian's classroom and peeked in. She was sitting at the table coloring away.
They seemed to have a great day, because they were all talking non-stop about the day's events when I picked them up. Vivian must not have eaten any of the lunch I had sent with her, because she devoured everything in sight when I offered a snack. I'm talking huge portions of graham crackers, raisins, pretzels, 2 slices of cheese, turkey, you name it!
Rebecca's teacher gave a good report for the day as well. It's really cool how Rebecca is starting to tell me little things about her day. She attended a kindergarten camp before school started and she couldn't relay many of the events of her day to me. I guess I relied on the boys to tell me everything when she was in preschool with them. Anyway, I can see improvements in her language just in the last few weeks!* She even told Billy some small details about the orphanage last night after he got finished reading Shaoey and Dot to her. I think the structured environment of school is really going to be great for her. Goodness knows, home can be chaotic!! I love all you people that homeschool, but I just don't see how you keep it all together!! (Not to mention that my kids won't perform for me!)

(*This isn't just an English language thing. She most likely could not do this is Chinese, as there wasn't anything special to remember from day to day, much less anyone who she could share things with. She was very delayed in Chinese (Cantonese), so basically she has had to start over in learning English. She had no language to think in, no language to build on. It's just not the same as a child learning a second language. I just needed to point out what a BIG deal this is!)