Life: Idiotropic

Arianna is the little monkey in the center bottom of the photo, just two photos in from the left.

Arianna has just finished her first week of kindergarten. I asked her what she thought and got a shrug of the shoulders. Nothing seems to excite her about this year at school which has really surprised and worried me a little. My social butterfly has a class full of her closest friends, a teacher who is strict, but sweet, and a great classroom. May be she’s just tired. I certainly hope so. Next week I hope to get more details out of her. All I got this week was how many times each day they got to go outside and the lyrics to one song they sang. When I asked yesterday what they did at school (minutes after she stepped off the bus), all I got in reply was, “I forgot already.” Arianna and Nevan at the Kindergarten Orientation

Elise playing at the Kindergarten Orientation, Aug 21

On Monday parents and students arrived at the beginning of the school day not for the first day of school, but for kindergarten orientation which translated into a really long morning. 45 minutes of free play as the 26 new students played with every toy in the room, 45 minutes of story time and listening to the teacher and the principal talk, then the students left and the parents were stuck with another 30 minutes of question and answer time with the teacher during which we learned that they won’t split the class until they got at least 30 students and that the teacher, though experienced, is completely deaf on one side and very sensitive to noise (so how is a classroom of 26 5-year-olds a good thing?).

Tuesday was the first day of kindergarten. It was Arianna’s first day of “real” school.

I remember the first time that Tiara started school. It was such a big day. I drove her to school, walked her to her classroom, talked with the teacher for a minute, then completely bawled as I walked away. It was as if a piece of me was being torn away and it felt wrong the entire day to be without her.

Arianna is a completely different kid in every way, but I still had that feeling that this was an important day and I wanted to mark it as such by driving her to school the first day and walking her to her classroom. Tiara - my grown up 6^th grader – still wanted me to drive her to school on her first day… but did Aria? No. Of course not. Miss independent was eager and ready to jump on that bus like all the other kids. Which is fine. That is her and her eagerness and enthusiasm make her who she is.

At the bus-stop

So, at 0750 Tiara and Arianna walked out our front door and hiked those 40 feet to the bus stop to wait with all the other parents and kids. The bus arrived a few minutes later and my little kindergartener jumped on without any hesitation whatsoever. Another kindergartener got on after her. Ria was shy and clung to her mother. Arianna talked to her and sat with her and Ria felt better.

During the day I made the cone. In Germany when students start their first year of school (age 6 here), they receive a cone from their parents filled with gifts and candy. Kirk and I both wanted to make one for her as the ones in the stores seemed small and a bit boring. I’d planned on starting it two weeks ago, but life happens, so that morning, I began. Luci loved it, so I figured it would be a hit with Arianna.

At 1445, I stood outside the classroom doors with Elise and Luci at my side and a giant cone in my arms. I was the only one carrying a cone. One woman asked if I’d brought her flowers. All looked at me with puzzled expressions. Many Americans don’t shop at the German stores and if they did, they wouldn’t necessarily know the tradition. I knew it because my grandmother is from Germany and she got a cone and, Kirk, who’d lived her before also knew of the tradition.

Arianna came bouncing out of the classroom and told her teacher, “I see my mom.” All the kids that are picked up are required to tell the teacher that particular phrase before they are released. Her face was bright and she loved her cone running around the playground with it in her arms. She opened it while Luci had ballet class, then put everything back in carefully. At home she opened it all up again with just as much excitement. Later that evening she asked, “Can you make me a cone when I am six?” Sadly, no, unless she goes to a German school next year since they start their schooling one year later… but we’ll see. I’ll save that for another bog.

p.s. That girl on the left is my grandmother when she started school and got her cone. It feels good to renew a tradition.