Different Questions

At home, J asks: "Why we have to go to school today?"
Here, he asks: "Why we have to go home now?" (when K came to pick us up from school today)

Granted it was only his second day of school (he goes to school Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays), but still...

So today was also my first day of parent participation in his school. What I did was basically keep an eye on the kids, play with them, help them out when they needed it (washing hands!), encourage them and try to help them resolve conflicts. Oh, and I also do some tidying up around the classroom. There are fourteen kids in J's class, and since they have a pretty big yard and room to play in, they can get quite scattered so you do need three adults watching them. At the end of the day, I was tired!! And quite glad to be able to go home, where there are only TWO kids... There are a great variety of kids in J's class, all with different personalities (a couple of them have strong, obstinate ones, but also a few with very sweet souls); and I guess it was quite interesting for me to see different ways of dealing with different children. Store up tips for future use!

The highlight: J was with me when I was helping two other kids with something (I don't even remember what now). After observing me, J said, "Mum, you're good mummy. You help other children." And while watching me clean the tables and get ready for snack time, J shouted through the window, "Thank you, Mum!" For those two moments alone, it was worth it!

On Monday, J's messy activity of the day was finger/hand painting (he got paint all over his shirt, but almost everything washed out in the washing machine, so I was happy!).

Today's messy activity of the day: There was a big pane of glass mounted and standing in a wooden frame in the yard. Then there were four bowls of shaving cream (!), sprinkled with paint powders in different colours. So you dip your hand in and go crazy on the glass. J took one look and dove right in, but barely five seconds later he decided that he didn't like the feel of the shaving cream and wanted to wash his hands to get rid of the stuff. He didn't go near it again!

Tomorrow I bring the kids to church. A women's bible study is starting up, and the great thing is that there's accompanying childcare, so both kids get to do some bible study too. I've told J it's "Thursday School"! The test will be E - for the past I-don't-know-how-many Sundays at church, she bawls every time we try to leave her at the nursery, so K and I have to take turns staying with her. We're praying that she'll be okay at the bible study tomorrow, and even have a good time!