4th Day of School

Ethan still feels a little apprehensive towards school. As if trying to convince himself that I would be back for him, he would repeatedly say this, "Daddy go work, Ethan go school and Mummy stay at home. Bell rinnngggggg.... Mummy come pick Ethan home." He sobbed slightly and whimpered as I prepared him for school in the morning, and as I removed his jackets and belongings at school. But he was willing to step into his classroom on his own, turn around to say "bye", before entering the classroom further. He looked sad, but he still made it! He's a brave and strong boy.

For lunch, I was told to pick Ethan up from a different room because his teacher had gate duties to perform. I suspected that Ethan wouldn't take the change too well, and true enough, I noticed tears on his cheek when I found him in the other room. But the sulking was transient.

It was a rainy day in Amiens. Although it was rather cumbersome to have to carry Ethan to and fro school in the drizzle, allowing Ethan to be my umbrella carrier turned out to be a great distractor/mood uplifter for him. He was amused whenever a strong gust of wind blew and he felt the tug against the umbrella, threatening to blow it out of his hands. This helped especially over the lunch period. As we headed home for lunch, he was teased by the umbrella. And at the end of lunch as I was getting him ready through his cries of "Ethan no sleep!", umbrella fun once again kicked in on street level, and we had a happy time walking to school. But of course, this distraction only lasted about 5 mins. And as I handed him over to the teacher for his nap, he started crying like the 1st couple of days in school. I left after repeatedly telling him that I would return at 4.30pm.

As far as I could gather from the teacher, he had a good 2hr nap at school, and woke up without crying. When I met him at 4.30pm, he was once again exhilarated and dashed out of the classroom. Thereafter, it was more umbrella fun for Ethan as we headed home; he even sang out loud through the raindrops!