Back to School

Reister is going to go to the preschool just across the street from our gate. We went to check it out together yesterday and the principal decided to put him in the 4-6 year old class. He would change to that class anyway when he turns 4 so it will avoid another transition. Plus, the kids in that class are speaking clearer and hopefully interacting more than in the younger class so hopefully that will help him learn Chinese faster. Today I went and stayed for almost an hour and then left him by himself for a little over an hour. He didn’t like the “exercise” routine that they do first. I assume they do the same routine to music everyday (for about 15 minutes) so maybe he’ll learn it eventually. They will be practicing a lot the rest of this month for the June 1st Children’s day performance. But I know Reister would HATE participating in that, so I’m not going to make him. Plus he might miss out on some practices just going half day. We’ll probably let him go 3 times a week till after the June 1st holiday then start him 5 mornings a week. I feel good about his teachers – they all speak standard Mandarin rather than the local dialect. I think the children do too. This morning on the way there I asked Father to give Reister one boy that would be his friend. When the teachers took all the students to the bathroom (they go all at once every hour or so) a boy came up to Reister and took his hand and led him along. I almost cried! I hope that boy will continue to “take care of” Reister and become his good buddy. One girl was in Reister’s class last year when he went to that school and remembers him and wants to play with him. But Reister doesn’t really want to have anything to do with her or the other girls. Ha ha!