Kid's corner

Today, September 1st, traditionally marks the first day of school in Belgium. This year, Elias is going to the second year of kindergarten (typically, age 3.5-4.5). His teacher is juf Christine, who is supposedly strict, but fun. From what we heard, everything well very well. Lunch was spaghetti, which supposedly is liked by most kids, so Elias did eat.

When we asked where his glasses were (we were afraid they were already broken), they were still in the classroom, because they had to evacuate the class because on kid threw up somewhere in the afternoon, and even after cleaning up the mess, the smell lingered. And juf Christine feared Elias would more easily break his glasses when wearing the during playtime. But because he needs to adapt to the shapes of objects as they really are, he should wear his glasses at all times. So we'll see how long they last ;-)

June 27, 2008. The last day at school for Elias. And I was late picking him up :-/ As in 30 minutes late. Somehow my brain thought I needed to pick him up at 15:35 instead of 15:05.

Elias has moved to a new class since February 12th, 2008. Apart from the fact that the experience of being separated from his friends -- in contrast to what was promised -- was quite annoying for Elias, it has not been the best experience for us either. Elias has been having three teachers since the change: Jane, Veerle and now Ellen, who replaces Jane as she's pregnant. And none of them is coming close to hist first teacher: Els.

Elias had only just entered the playground and ditched his bag somewhere he can probably find it again, or three girls came running up to him, shouting his name. The tallest one instantly grabbed hum by the hand, and off they were.

Elias came home from school today at noon and told us some kids had hit him. I can only imagine the look on their faces as I suspect he told them they could not do that, pointing his finger in the air. Note to parents of ill-behaving creatures: leash them.

Today marked Elias' very first day at school. We had been trying to prepare him and ourselves (!) for it, during the last few days. This morning, we managed to roll out of bed at 7:26. While bread was fetched, Elias was awoken, washed and dressed. His bag was packed, the camera was lying in plain sight as to not forget it, and we were pretty much set to go. One minor drawback: shoes. Elias has received cool new shoes, but they lack extra soles. And the soles from his other shoes were slightly too small to fit. But, departure was targetted at 8:40, and at 8:42 we were driving to school.

Elias went to check out his school today. When we enrolled him, we were told he could come and check things out, so it will not be a jump into the void when he goes for his first day on September 3rd, 2007. We arrived just before playtime, so Elias had the opportunity to check out the classroom at his leisure. Luckily, because all the children coming to see him when he entered the room kind of scared him a bit.

Today we enrolled Elias in school. He will be going to Stene Elementary School, which is about 5 minutes walking from our doorstep. He will start at September 1st, 2007. For the first four months, he'll join a class with kids from 2.5 to 3 years of age, after that he'll move on to the first class in kindergarten.

We went to see the class rooms, and they looked quite crowded with toys, books, and what have you. I think he'll be having a splendid time. At least, I hope so.