Soraya is progressing at her new school. She briefly went to another preschool, but it was large and overwhelming for her and she sort of just stood there. She recently started attending the San Francisco Seminary's Children's Center three mornings a week. Miss Iris, her primary teacher, is a very soft spoken, gentle woman who hugs and cuddles all the children. Her second teacher, Miss Corey, is the silly one. Sweet and silly are a good combination for Soraya. Although the good-byes are sad, she quickly composes herself and finds something to do. She dresses herself in scarves, pops bubbles, feeds the fish and plays "ice cream store" with a few older (read: older by a few months) girls who have taken Soraya under their wings. The teachers have even observed her smiling a few times! She is definitely on her way, but taking her own time to do it. We're proud of her willingness to give school a chance!
Yesterday was a big day for the kindergartners: Kindergarten Olympics! All of the K teachers got together and mixed the kids up into about 10 teams of 8, so they'd be sure to meet a few new friends who might be in their class next year. There were potato sack races, bean bag tossing and relay races. Every kid won a medal and were treated to a first class picnic, complete with hot dogs and marshmallow krispie treats.
Today was a special one. Lots of emotions for everyone. Today was the last day of Kindergarten. In the morning, we got out of the house early so that we would have time for a special trip to the bagel shop before school started.
We made it just in time for school! The parents from Room 4 (that would be the parents of all the kids in Arjun's class) organized a little breakfast get-together to kill time before the "Stepping-Up" ceremony. For 45 minutes, we socialized and talked about summer plans. Soraya drank some lemonade and tried each of the baked goods. What a nice group of parents! I just couldn't be happier with our new community. At about 9:30, we were called into the classroom for the ceremony to begin. Mrs Holko called each of the children up, one by one, to read a "Cinquain" poem about them. It was written with the help of each child and outlined their nickname at home, two things unique about them, three things they like to do outside of school, four feelings that they have, their full name and lastly, who or what they are. Arjun said that he had no nickname (honestly, he probably has so many nicknames he couldn't pick one out), that you could identify him by his brown eyes and two freckles on his cheek, that he likes to play with legos, go out for ice cream and play games with his sister (Awwwww!),and that he feels happy, sad, funny, and excited. He finished with saying that Arjun James Singh is a "person". Mrs Holko then read a "good-bye" poem to the children. There wasn't a dry eye in the room (ok, maybe the kids and dads weren't crying, but all the moms were).
After the ceremony, we celebrated with cake and lemonade in plastic champagne cups, and the kids ran off their sugar buzzes for about 45 minutes. The parents all left so the kids could go check out their new digs in the First Grade rooms and watch a play put on by the First Graders. At 1pm, we picked up the kids and said goodbye to our friends and wonderful teacher. Arjun, Soraya and I spent about an hour after school on the playground so the kids could run around with their friends some more. This is something we do just about every day after school. Today we couldn't stay too long, though, because our day was only half over!
AFter an hour or so at home, Arjun dressed in his Gi and we headed to Aikido for his first belt test, for the rank of 10th Kyu. Usually when we arrive, I'm the only parent who stays to watch and the kids are running around silly. Today was very different. There were at least 8 parents there and the kids were all serious and a bit nervous. They all sat on the mat and did their warm-ups and then the test began. Each child had to perform 4 moves, plus a routine with a "jo" or stick, as well as their bowing ritual. If you had asked me three weeks ago, when it was announced there would be a test, I would have told you that Arjun couldn't do it. I even encouraged Arjun to wait until September for the next test. But after he was part of an Aikido demonstration, he felt a new sense of prowess for his skill, and took a step up in his interest of Aikido. He went to every class, he studied the moves, he practiced at home, and he taught his little sister in his own class. He tied his belt at least 50 times, determined to figure out this very complicated knot, getting frustrated, giving up once, but trying again until he mastered it. Now he wears proudly wears his belt around the house like Obi Won Kenobi. So, now you get it. He was really determined to pass his test. And he did it! He's the smallest and youngest in the class, but shows the most focus. And he earned his new rank and belt. Although, the HUGE disappointment was that his sensei didn't actually HAVE the new belts for the kids. She's trying to coordinate with other dojos in the area so that when the kids cross-train, everyone will know what their rank is. The problem is that one dojo moves up from the white belt to the red belt, and the other dojo moves up from the white belt to the yellow belt. The third dojo hasn't returned her phone call. So, she's not sure which color to order, plus she wants to give all the kids certificates and have a special ceremony for them in two weeks. Arjun was truly bummed. He thought he didn't earn his belt (he'd never taken a test before and didn't know what "you passed" meant). Now that it's all been explained to him, he's slightly less bummed.
After some celebratory pizza and ice cream at Pizzeria Picco, we headed to the Ross Farmer's Market to pick up some local, organic strawberries for Soraya's preschool. The kids were totally wired. They dropped strawberries all over the place, bumped into people, squealed and tickled eachother, and Soraya fell on the ground, scraping her hands... all in 5 minutes. I was ready to go home and be off duty - which is what I am now. Off duty. Until tomorrow. Soraya goes to preschool from 9am til 1pm and Arjun stays home with me. It'll be nice to have some quality time with him. He's really a pretty great guy to hang out with and I'm looking forward to a summer with him and Soraya.
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