Lola's New School, where she is "Very Perfect"

 Lola started classes (K1, which is the equivalent to nursery school in the US) at KCS full time on October 5.  She attends class Monday through Friday for three hours in the mornings, independently.  She had two days of orientation in the last week of September, during which I thought she would be very clingy or scared, but she was actually beyond ready to jump into the classroom.  

On the first day of school, she couldn't get rid of me and Michael fast enough!  I  planned to stay outside for the full 3 hours on the first day, just in case she was crying inconsolably or something terrible happened, but it was not at all needed. When she saw Michael poking his head in after the first couple of minutes, she kept waving her hands at him and trying to get him to go away.  Ah, it starts so early...

On our way to school on the very first day.  It happened to be pouring rain.

The school was full of excited kids and parents.  It had been a long third wave.  Or really, it had been a long year in general.

There was a long line of kids to get in, because everyone had to be measured for temperature, registered, and sanitized.  Once inside the classroom the kids hook their backpacks on the backs of their chairs and start playing with toys at their seats.  I can't say I love the plastic dividers, but such is the Covid world we live in now.

Lola and I now have a morning routine where she comes and, if I'm not already awake with the boys, wakes me up, and then climbs into bed with me and Michael with her two little bunnies (Tat and Oin), snuggles with me under the blanket between us (for about two minutes, if that), and then declares she doesn't want to sleep anymore.  I then drag myself out of bed with as much pep as I can muster, trying not to wince at the hour (always before 7 am, although thankfully now after 6 am and sometimes even after 6:30 am).  If I'm already awake, she will burst into the brothers' room and usually be tolerant of my divided attention for about five minutes, and then declare that she wants to cuddle with only me in her room or on the couch. 

 I always eat breakfast with Lola, during which we chat or recount her previous day or what her plans are for the upcoming day, or else I read some books (Chinese or English, her choice).  After breakfast, getting her teeth brushed, face washed, and clothes changed falls on me because I can do it the fastest and with the last complaints from her.  Auntie Lyn will usually do her hair but sometimes she wants mommy to do it.  I confess I usually go for the messy "bun in a scrunchie" look and hope it plays off as "deliberately chic and au natural".  My pigtails have improved...

Then I either take her to school (Tuesdays and Thursdays, when Siti arrives later) or else I bid her farewell at 8:15.  Al and Teo head out for a walk with auntie Lyn around 8 am, and if I have time I'll accompany them.  If it's a morning where everyone has eaten and dressed and can get out of the door by 8, we will all go out for a walk together and then Lola hops in the car directly from downstairs at 8:15.

For a while I was taking Lola to school every morning, but then I don't always have time to do that because I have early morning calls if I'm working on an urgent matter or anything that involves New York - and I've found it's particularly hard for her to say goodbye when I do drop off.  Taking her two times a week seems like a nice compromise - I still have the chance to catch up with her teachers, albeit briefly, and observe her classroom and school, and I've also already met a few parents during pickup or dropoff and that has provided a nice sense of context and feel of community.  

The change to a local school has been very interesting, and I definitely feel the contrast more directly because everything is communicated in Chinese, so Michael can't handle it.  The school is much more process and rules oriented, and that affects the parents as well.  The sheer amount of administration is boggling -  uniforms (formal and athletic sets and summer and winter sets, and matching shoes, with specific days for wearing each, and dates for seasonal changes, as well as purchase and pickup to coordinate), classroom materials (books for reading, books for coloring, sticker packets, songs, CDs, Chinese characters and phonics worksheets), administration (temperature to be measured and recorded every day, forms to fill out, pictures to provide - Lola is sent home with a folder every day that they expect the parents to check and respond to)... it's a lot.  Way more than what we had to deal with in any of Lola's international playgroups and honestly, way more than what I think is necessary for a 3 year old. 

While I don't necessarily agree with the clearly rules-based and more traditional approach adopted by the school, and I've already decided that we are not going to continue with local education beyond kindergarten, I continue to be in awe of Lola's head teacher.  I don't know how she manages to keep all of the 30 kids in her classroom straight, and she is so conscientious and so remarkably responsive on everything.  She personally messages me on whatsapp with reminders, notifications and...mostly reminders, and always has something personal to comment on Lola at pick-up or drop-off.

Here is one of Lola's typical breakfasts.  It's a rotating buffet of either cereal and egg roll, oatmeal with dried fruit and cereal, or pancakes and cereal, usually paired with some fresh fruit.  There are a lot of bowls and spoons...

Here we are heading to school.  Sometimes I come right back home, other times I head straight in to work.

Auntie Lyn continues to stun and awe with her hair skills.  I bow down.  When I do Lola's hair I am definitely not taking pictures to commemorate it!

 It has been just about a month since Lola has been at school and we think it's going well.  There are times when she doesn't want to go and many occasions when she cries at drop off (usually when I'm the one doing drop off though), but overall she really has taken to school swimmingly.  She is in the "apple group," knows the full names of her classmates and teachers, has learned a bunch of new songs, and has picked up lots of phrases and sayings (I wonder if her teachers would be nervous to know that they have a little tape recorder in class with them!).  Lola now comes home mimicking her teachers and has quite an authoritative air when it comes to teaching her brothers (or really anyone around her) to do anything.  Just the other day at dinner she told us that she got not one but TWO stickers, and when we asked her why, she said because her teachers told her that she is "very perfect".   Not sure if that is actually what they said... but they probably couldn't have said it better!