Back to school

I could not get a serious smile from my silly boy, but here he is all ready.

Today was Austin's first official day back at school. He was super excited about,which is always a good sign. Given Austin's history of being clingy to me and pretty introverted, I really wondered how he would do at school this past year. But I am so thankful that he really seems to love it, also enjoys the routine and really likes his teachers. I am really thankful for this little school and the love they show the kids. It is definitely a nurturing environment, which is what Austin needs. And his Chinese has definitely improved over the past year, he loves learning characters and seems to be doing well. We are trying 5 days a week this fall. It feels like a lot to me still for a not-quite 5 year old, but the school really encourages the attendance, he really does like it and the afternoon schedule is working really well for us (he just goes in the afternoons again). I think for language development the consistency is really helpful too.

He moved up into the next class- he is a little young, but most of the 8 kids in his class were recently 5 so he is not that far apart in age. They redecorated the school over the summer and it is really nice and inviting. All Chinese class is in one room and English is in another- so Austin spends the afternoon in the same place mostly ( he does not attend the English portion for obvious reasons). He was also really excited to learn they had new bathrooms- 4 little private stalls with 2 child-size Western toilets and 2 child-size squatties. Definitely a rare thing in Chinese preschools to have small Western toilets and privacy!

This is his new classroom.

Today on the way to school Austin was so cute. I was talking to him about obeying his teachers and being kind to the other kids and he said" I think we should make a Bible verse about that. About ...we should share with others and be kind to them...so we can become children of God." I explained we don't make up our own verses, but that was a great idea and those ideas are all in the Bible and we can find a good verse to memorize about those things.