This week Bo became an official preschooler. We went by school on Monday to inquire about getting Bo in to get used to the place and after a brief scare that they might not be able to handle his diabetes we were ready to go. Monday we met his teacher but did not spend much time in the class. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we went each morning from about 9 to 11, which is their morning play time when they work on the letter and number fo the week and then do free play and finally playground, which is definitely Bo's favorite. Each day I saw progress with how Bo related to the other kids. Day one he clung to me and didn't even try to play with other kids. He did talk to Richard, the other Chinese kid in his class, in Mandarin for a few minutes on the playground. It's funny because although Richard speaks Mandarin at home with his parents he seems to think that school is for English and he isn't able to translate or switch between languages very easily. He's a smart kid though and the spontaneous conversations between them will definitely put Bo more at ease. By Friday Bo was actually playing with the other kids a little. Tomorrow (Monday) I will leave him alone without me for the first time. I am not expecting this will go well but I drew a picture for him this morning and we have reviewed it a few times. It has stick figure drawings of us waking up, eating breakfast at home, going in the car to school, Bo staying at school while I go back home in the car, then me coming back to pick him up and both of us driving home together and Ryan coming home. I have to go to school at 11 to test his blood (staff isn't trained yet) so I'm guessing he won't make it past lunchtime. I think that's Ok for two days and then Wednesday will probably be our first attempt at full day. It will definitely help to not have me coming at lunch to test him but I think with another stick figure picture story I can explain that I come and do "finger" as we call it and then I leave and come back a second time before he comes home. This will no doubt be a crazy week but it has to happen (I'm not cut out for the stay-at-home mommy gig). So stay tuned and wish us luck!
And for those of you wondering, Bo is starting to speak a little English. He mostly mimics us and doesn't really use it spontaneously himself but I can tell he understands me more and more. And he has copied a few words at school from other kids (teacher, sand) so I'm sure that not having me around as his Mandarin crutch will be a big help.
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