First day of Nursery II at Chiltern House

We had dinner and prayed for "good weather so we can go to

school tomorrow" and with joy and thanksgiving, we were able to.

"Mama, I want to go to school" Rebecca cried as she snuggled in our bed this morning and with much joy, we made it to the school gates at precisely 8:30am. Her friends and their parents (those would be mama's mates) were all hanging around in the hallway and there was much laughter and hugs (both kids and parents). It was lovely to see all the children again, grown up and tall.

Rebecca shyly approached her besties - Lina and Isabelle and accepted the many compliments that she looked good in her check uniform. Well, she did even though I had gotten her really LARGE and LONG ones to last a long time. She did her health checks without much prompting and merrily took off her shoes all by herself and put them in her cubby hole. I wonder how long this model habit will last.

The tres marias, as Lina, Isabelle and Rebecca are fondly refered to by their ex-teacher, then held hands and made their way up to the "big girl and big boy" classroom on the second floor.

Once at the door, however, she suddenly became very coy. Sleaking off towards a corner. It must have been the new classroom and the new teachers which intimidated her. I reached forward and hugged her and reminded her what we talked about - how that she's now a grown up and will be moved up to a bigger class. She agreed but still remained passive. It was only when she saw her previous class assistant, Xu lao shi, then a smile broke and she became much happier again.

Nanny and I stayed in class for about 20 minutes and I encouraged R to play with the new boy, Sumner. All the other kids were "repeats" from last school year and it was really boistrous to watch everyone catch up - moms and kids alike. There was even a new baby in class, Noah's 2 week old brother, that R was in love with.

The separation was thankfully surprisingly painless. She seriously told me goodbye, gave me a hug and refused to walk with me to speak to her teacher Mr Luke. She then walked to Florian's mother who was with Florian and told her "No mamas in class, and no Ates in class", firmly shaking her hands in disproval.

Ahhh my little one, just cos you are ready to grow up, you want your friends around you to grow up too.

I was there as promised, when its 1-2-0-0. She was so delighted to see me and relieved. Amazingly, there were no tears in the entire class. A small miracle for a class who was on an accompanied program and had lots of separation anxiety issues last year in accompanied pre-nursery program.

Rebecca said that she ate 5 jiaozi - something really hard to believe - and I could see that she was tired out from the excitement of the morning. Lunch was a quick affair as we dug through the meal from home whilst her friends ate a school lunch. We then visited the library, read two Thomas the Train books and went home after dropping me off at work again.

We're so thankful that Rebecca is loving school and looking forward to going back again tomorrow. We're thankful that God is so gracious is providing her good teachers and a good environment to explore the world in. We're thankful that she is settling well. May she continue to find joy in the world around her as she grows each day. Amen.