Thursday, October 14, 2010

Erica Starts Kindy

Erica had her first day at kindy today! Actually she stayed home her official first day with a fever! Here she is, ready and rearing to go with her pink backpack on (which she calls "my pink" or "packback").

She was very keen to go! Never looked back. We had been there three times to enrol, so she knew the place very well. She had not been inside yet though - she is obsessed with the outdoor play area. Once she'd gone inside and registered the fact that there were other children there, she came back to the door where I was waiting, took my hand and led me inside. I'd come early so I could stay with her as long as she needed, so I went in. She started to play with the kitchen, and the teacher encouraged me to leave. She looked a little surprised when I said "goodbye, I'm going to work" (she is used to that, as I say that when I leave her with her Daddy or Baachan).


Apparently she was so happy playing when her Daddy came to pick her up an hour later that she really didn't want to leave! So it's been decided that she will stay for the whole four hours. So, that was easy! Helps I suppose that we waited until she was ready - putting on her shoes and yelling out to me "Mum! Let's Go Yuu-kun!" (her friend's name) or "Let's go Baachan" because she was bored at home.

Left: on the way to kindy on her new bike. This was a few days before, and we were going for a talk. Kanji still had his blond hair at this point - it's got spray-on black on it just for this meeting!
Right: the kindy gate, and the hondo on the left. The kindy is at a temple.






Left: eager beaver can't wait to get in!
Right: on the famous Dinosaur climbing frame. I was terrified because she immediately copied an older kid and held on to that red bar at the top by her hands and I wasn't sure if she could swing her legs over to the platform or the down bar. She can't grip around a bar with her scarred hand, you can see in the picture how she is wrapping it around.




The sandpit. Ooookay... You've got to wonder why they bother...



4 comments:

shinshu life said...

oh I love the sandpit pic! And that Erica seems to be going what the...? too. Is it ichiji-hoiku? I've never heard of kinder starting in October...

Rachel said...

Yes, ichiji hojiku, and only twice a week this month.

Lulu said...

Ichiji hoiku? So not the English one your other two girls went too? Will Erica go to that one later?

Sounds and looks as if she enjoyed it which is good- I have a couple of ichiji hoiku near here (both about 25 mins walk away) that I might put Noah in when he gets a bit older if I don`t send him to full time Hoikuen (if I go back to work)...I think as he gets older he will enjoy the socialization!

Rachel said...

She is due to start the English kindy in April, though I haven't decided if I want her to do one year or two yet, so maybe another year of this one.

Ichiji hoiku is a nice gentle start, I think. If you go back to work, you could send him to ichiji hoiku for a few months before you start to break the ice.

I'm not sold on the socialization idea, I'm sending her there cos she's bored, and when I have work to do at home I tend to let her watch TV too much!