Preschool Begins

On Wednesday, August 22nd, one day after she turned three years old (!!!), my first baby started preschool.  Grade pre-K3.  At a French immersion school.

she was saying "I'm three years old, now!"

I don't think that "grade" even existed when I was a child.  Not to mention. she's at a language immersion school.  God help us, we don't really even speak a lick of French.

The night before, we got everything prepared, we went to bed late (oops), but sat down together with Daddy and her little sister and read bedtime stories.  I cried while reading Goodnight Moon (really?  oh yeah, really.).  The next morning, it all seemed easy.  We got there on time, we dropped her off, there were no tears.  That afternoon, we asked her how her day was.  I'll never forget her answer: "I didn't sing French, I didn't talk French, I didn't learn French.  I didn't do anything Frenchy."

Well, okay.

first day of school

Genna gets in on the action.  Although she was probably saying, "I'm one!"

The school had a staggered schedule for the three-year-olds, so Gabby didn't attend the next day, but she did go that Friday.  Another fairly easy day.

Then Hurricane Isaac came our way and threw us all for a loop.  Gabby was out of school for a full week, plus the Labor Day holiday.  And with weekends that meant she was back home full time (in all the power-outtage and living with family weirdness that was the aftermath of Isaac) for 10 days.  This week has been her first (almost) full week.  It's Thursday and we're only down three days, but lemme tell ya - I am exhausted!

I seriously didn't realize that putting my kid in school would be so exhausting for ME.  Hopefully, I can get used to my new schedule.  I now wake up at 5:30am.  What?!  I was very used to waking at 8:30 or 9:00a, taking a leisurely approach to our mornings with a drawn out breakfast, late lunch, late nap (if any), random errands or trips to the gym, starting to think about dinner at 6:00pm and bed for the girls between 9:30-10:00pm.  Oh, we're in a whole different ball game now.  Waking up at 5:30am and spending a total of three hours a day in the car commuting between Gabby's school has left me just drained.  I'm not used to this.

Poor spoiled stay-at-home-mommy.

I had these grand dreams of going to the gym, preparing great dinners, having time to do craft projects, organize and clean the house better.  Overall, more freedom with only one toddler (who naps for 2-3 hours!), but obviously I haven't figured out how to do any of that yet.  Genna isn't used to the new routine yet either.  She falls asleep on the way to school, on the way home, and then again when we go out to pick up Gabby.  I'm hoping today's insanely long nap (at home) will show that she is getting into a better schedule.

French books

Gabby's stuff.  We're prepared.  haha

Gabby seems to like school.  Although every day this week she has cried at drop-off.  :(  By the afternoon, she's happy to see me and talks about her day.  She has repeatedly told us that she wont learn French.  Hmm.  Although between school and the lessons she watched at home on the computer, something is sinking in.  She calls random objects by their names in French (une pomme, une banane, une fourche) and after eating a clementine the other day she looked at us unprompted and said, "Mmm! C'est bon!"  She also now says, "Bonjour!" and "Au revoir!" to her two teachers upon entering and leaving class.  Genna can even be heard trying to say "au revoir," although it comes out more like "wah-wah!"

It's kind of amazing.

Stay tuned for more updates as we get through our first school year (for Gabrielle, and for us as parents!).