Formal education has officially begun for Chubbs. Since yesterday, he'll be going to pre-nursery for three hours on weekdays. Here's a little bit about his school... it runs on the same schedule as primary schools, and will get term breaks, and mid and end-of-year breaks. There's a gargantuan fleet of school buses to ferry kids as young as two years old and the teachers use walkie-talkie to coordinate the pick-up of their students by parents in waiting cars after school. The school has a rabbit hatch and fish pond on their compound, and the students plant and care for papaya trees, and a huge variety of herbs and plants, which they later harvest and eat.
We have been preparing him for school for some time now, hoping that it'll ease the transition. He enjoyed school very much, mainly because in his classroom, there's a fully-equipped play kitchenette, where he spent almost all his time at. Fuzzy and I stood back as much as we could, so that he could interact freely with his classmates and teachers. The only time he looked to me for help was when he got jostled and shoved by the girls for the toys in his hands, and when a girl snatched the cooking pot he was holding, and whacked his head with it. To escape the mayhem, he went to read on his own at the library corner, and waited until everyone sat down for a story before heading back to the kitchenette to have the whole area to himself. Fuzzy now dubbs him "the renegade".
Overall, he loved school, and refused to leave because he wanted to cook more. I told him we'd be back and he seemed a little comforted by that. He hugged both teachers before leaving, and once we got into the car, I asked him if school was fun, and he immediately said yes. And throughout the day, he kept asking me, "Mommy, was it fun in school?" And I always say yes.
A light lunch soba noodles, miso soup, egg and steamed corn before school.
Playing before we left home.
No admittance unless you have a decal on your car.
My school-boy.
Waiting at the gates before entering the classroom.
Playing "cook-cook" with his classmates and teacher.
Picking out a sticker.
