Haley's FIRST day of AISB

(Picture made possible by Haley's teacher who posted it on facebook. I took LOTS o' pictures, but am still waiting on the cord, sorry! I especially like the two goof ball cuties on the left! Work it!)

Something MUST be wrong with the clocks in our house because the 7 1/2 hours that Haley was away from me her first day of Kindergarten went by sooooo slowly! :) I was proud of myself. I didn't even cry. When the bus got there I spoke to the driver in my broken Hungarian to make sure he was taking my child to the right school and got on the bus with her (oh, no you didn't!! I hear you saying) to make sure that she could buckle her seatbelt okay and to (yes) give her a kiss and hug goodbye. Then, as I saw her drive away in her small, blue bus I got tears in my eyes not only because Haley is going to Kindergarten and leaving to a big big world, but also because Maleia was so sad that she couldn't go with Haley. It seriously broke my heart to see those big tears come from her eyes as she sat there hugging me watching her big sister be lifted away to school oblivion. "But mommy. I am a big girl. I want to go on the 'stool-bus' too!!! I want to go to 'Kindergerten' too mommy, PLEEEEEASE???!!" I got her calmed down as I told her that we were going to walk to the store today, which is not very fun by the way, because it is uphill and pretty far away, but we have no car and our friends weren't going to the store for us to hitch a ride. We could have lasted another day, but Maleia LOVES going to the store with me and we needed a distraction, so we went. I was surprised at how much fun it was talking to Maleia the whole way there. Usually I am talking to both Haley and Maleia and, let's face it, Haley is a talker -wonder where she gets it from- and so poor Maleia seldom gets a word in edgewise. So I got to spend some very needed quality time with my little Maleia. She is so sweet. As I was revelling in the bliss of this mother-daughter bonding time with Dylan scoping out the cars and trucks that went by and making car sounds and pointing to everything saying "that? that?", she brought me back to reality when I asked what she wanted for her birthday. I was expecting the usual answers, "A piggy pet and a piggy bike," but I got, "Mommy. All I want is to be 5 so I can go on the blue bus and go to 'Kindergerten' with Haley." "You don't want a piggy pet?" "No. (sigh) I want to be 5." Poor Maleia! That's it! I am starting my preschool again! She needs something so badly and I love preschool, so I am doing it! There. I know I told some that I was going on a Preschool haitus this year, but if you know me at all, I just can't not do it.

Okay, back to Haley. Her class is really diverse. We just keep getting more and more ethnic in our schools. She went from my Preschool where she had all kids from similar church backgrounds and ethnicity, to Pre-K where she was the only caucasion the first day, to a class in Hungary where all the children are from 10 different countries and 9 kids speak at least some English. (Korean, Chinese, Polish, Danish, Hungarian, French, Spanish, Croatian, and English.)

Haley is so funny. When she got home I wanted to know all about Kindergarten and she went off for about 20 minutes straight and after a while she told me, "I sat next to a boy named Belosz or something and I was talking and talking to him, but then I wasn't sure if he spoke English, but I just kept talking and talking, and then I think he does speak English because he nodded his head like this (head nodding with eyebrows raised) and even laughed when I laughed sometimes, but then he would speak Spanish to another boy, but I think he might just understand me maybe and not speak English too much." :) This is so Haley. I bet that boy will learn English in no time with Haley sitting next to him. Brandon said that his name is Hungarian, so I bet he was speaking Hungarian and she just doesn't know the difference.

Tonight was no struggle to get her ready for bed. She was already nodding off during prayers and she immediately went to sleep as I was scratching her back. What a day! She even loved the hot lunch there and I am sooo impressed with the entire school!! It's amazing. 3 playgrounds, 2 gyms, a swimming pool, 2 teachers in her class of 16, etc. etc. I can go on and on, but basically I am just so glad that Haley loves school. That is really what it comes down to. A comfortable learning atmosohere where she loves to learn and grow. You can find it in many places, yes, but I am so glad we are here.

Now if only I can figure out how to see the settings of my blog in English instead of Hungarian...??? Haley, can you learn tomorrow and let me know? :)