First Full Day

Today was Johnny's first full day.

Last night before bed he told me that he was ready to "stay the whole day".

He did great.

I tried to get there a bit early as all the kids line up outside of the school, parents hanging around, and then go into their classrooms together, but we often run a bit late. Here are some pictures of the path to school.

Once he was in school I noticed all of these kids carrying these bags, so I asked a girl what it was. "My hockey stick!!"

A closer look at the kids with sticks but no bags revealed all sorts of field hockey sticks. My next task is to find out how to get involved!

I ran over to the used bike shop by UCD today and grabbed a nice little secondhand bike and now can get around a bit faster. I picked him up and he had stories about some kid named Oscar who gave him a soccer (football) trading card, and his "new best friend" (name still unknown). At recess ("break") some kids asked him to play "catch" to which Johnny answered "Sure! Where's the ball?" They looked at him curiously. Apparently "catch" is tag. When he figured this out he said "Who's it?" Again, blank stares and then "I'm ON!"

He loves this stuff. I asked him if they think he is strange, but it sounds like they are just really curious about the differences in the two classrooms. At some point we are going to set up a Skype call between this class and the one at Annunciation.

Here's my walk home:

Maggie is a bit more homesick. Maybe it will come in waves for all of us. She's not too busy -- she describes school as being more difficult while you are there, but easier once home. She hasn't had much more than 1/2 hour of homework per evening (as compared to Annunciation where she might work for 3 hours or so). Her day is a little longer. We are hoping to get her set up with a friend this weekend, but she's feeling a bit shy. The "first years" got invited to a party in early February that she is looking forward to.

It is so hard to be a little homesick yourself, and know that your kids are REALLY homesick, and remember what a great experience this is. We talked a lot tonight (and fought a little) but its really hard to tell a twelve year old that it'll be June before you know it.