Ella's Violin Story

[Holding two colorful plastic rulers perpendicularly]

"Momma! Do you know what this is? This is my violin. Do you hear the music? Whaaat? How can you not hear the music? See how I play it? Do you know where I got the violin? For my first birthday! Whaaat? Did I play it with the orange on bottom and the blue the violin stick? Yeah, I play it with the blue violin stick."


"Did you do the picture of my violin? You just could write down."
[Do you have more to tell me?]
"No, I'm done with that story."

School- Preschool

On the 1st of September, Danya started Russian 2nd class. The anticipation was much less than last year. Eric and I were so relieved to already have relationships with the teacher and other parents, and to feel we knew what to expect. But Danya said he hadn't been scared the year before. "Last year I was excited because I didn't know what it would be like. Now I know it's just a lot of work." Despite his lack of excitement, he did say he enjoyed seeing his friends and starting the new year. Tomorrow he'll have five lessons, including English. His teacher has offered to work with him on Russian while the others learn English!

Tima took a big step and started the "Preparatory Class" at the public kindergarten/preschool/childcare. We are a little anxious about how he'll fit into a group that's been together for three years, especially as a foreigner with limited language skills. His teacher did not make a great impression, but did introduce him to the other kids and seems to understand that she'll need to be patient with him. The second teacher of his group was pretty confrontational today when we picked him up, stating that they've already learned the alphabet and now are starting to learn to read, and that she can't start all over again with him. It surprised us, since Danya's 1st grade started with learning the letters! We knew some of the kids already could read, depending on their preschool, but expected that the preparatory class was the place for letter-learning. We'll see how that works out--in our experience people are often more helpful after we assure them we understand and want to work together for the same goal.

Tima enjoyed playing with the toys, especially the race cars. He was quite impressed by the number of toys in the room. Many of the kids have not come back yet after the summer vacation--today there were only 6 boys and 1 girl! He played soccer with the other kids at recess.

Ella got in a little trouble when she ran to see Tima while at recess! Her teacher explained to her that it was not okay to leave her group without asking permission. Ella's teacher is kind and gentle. She could easily be a preschool teacher in America. Ella was excited to start, and also impressed with the toys. When I asked what she most liked, she said, "They have dolls! ... And a gold thing, and a gold thing that turns, and I thought it opened on top, but... " (She continued talking about various 'things' as long as I let her!)

We are trusting God to give our kids each a place to thrive emotionally, socially and academically. But we know that sometimes hard situations are the best things for all of us. So we're praying in expectation, but knowing that God will work it all (somehow) to the good!

As I left in the morning, I could see Tima playing right inside the window.