School Update

Frankie just got home from school, and was full of stories about how great school was. She seemed to really, really love it.

Here are some of the things she liked best:

1) Making new friends
She met a little girl named Madeline, and two boys named Scott and Max. They played together all day, and she's really excited to go back and see them again tomorrow. (When I mentioned that she was going to miss school Friday because we're going to London, she got very worried and said, "But Mommy! Won't all my school friends wonder where I am?")

2) Recess
There are three separate playgrounds at her school, and Frankie got a chance to play on all of them today. She was very proud of her school for having all of the outdoor play areas, and when I came to pick her up, she walked me through all three of them, pointing out the highlights.

3) Lunchtime
Frankie was super excited that she actually got to *choose* what to have for lunch. Everyone gets a choice of two things off the menu to eat for lunch. Today, she chose sweet corn and mashed potatoes. She felt really empowered. (At her old school, everyone got the same lunch and the teachers would chant, "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit.")

4) No naps!
Naptime was the bane of her existence at the old school.  She hasn't napped since she was two, and she hated the fact that her old school forced her to be quiet lie quietly in the darkness for two hours after lunch. She grew out of naps long ago, but her old school still insisted on them. At the new school, it's just go, go, go all day long. Frankie loved it.


In the words of her teacher, Frankie had an "absolutely brilliant" first day. From my perspective, I couldn't believe how fast the time Frankie was gone zipped by. We dropped her off at 9 and ....POOF! It was 2:30, and time to head back over to bring her home.

On a related note, I conquered two first today as well:

1) driving by myself

2) navagating THE WENT

To give you an idea of why I dislike The Went so much, here's a picture I took this morning:

Looks like an alley, right? Tall shrubs to the left... A hilly embankment to the right...Turns in the road where you can't see what's coming up next....

Now, imagine that this is intended to function as a TWO WAY street. I encountered a car coming right at me this afternoon, and it literally had to stop, back up, and drive in reverse until there was enough room to pull off on the muddy shoulder.

Not ideal. But, hey. I made it!