Schooling Update

It's been five weeks since Lily started school. I know this because today is the first day of her two week winter vacation. Five weeks on...two weeks off...not a bad school schedule if you ask me. And it's not just schools that get this vacation. Phil is eligible for a week off right now (he does only get one of the two weeks off). Other French workers I know are also taking their winter holiday at the moment. For better or worse, vacation is an entitlement here and not just a perk!

Anyway, here's a quick update on how Lily seems to be doing at school. I'm saying "seems to be doing" because I've never asked her teacher how she's doing...I can't...I don't speak enough French yet. Phil picked her up one Friday (during week three, I think) and quickly asked the teacher if things were going OK? The teacher said yes, things were fine, and said if Lily is happy, that is good enough for her. So just know I'm reading into a lot of things and taking cues from what Lily is saying and doing for me to announce...

It is going great!

Lily is now staying for lunch every school day of the week (they don't have school on Wednesdays). So, I drop her off at eight twenty in the morning and pick her up again at four twenty. I was worried about how long the day would seem for Lily without coming home for lunch, but she seems to be doing better by staying. She was crying for the first couple of weeks when I would drop her off, but now that has completely stopped.

The only issues we started having when she began staying for lunch were bathroom related. But Phil taught her words to say, so now she can ask to use the bathroom when she has too. (I could write an entire blog post about the bathroom situation at her school, but I will save that for later---just know there are NO doors---boys and girls use the same huge rooms of toilets, lined up against a wall, all at the same time---Lily had some American modesty and notions of privacy she had to get over before she felt comfortable joining the rest of the kids (I'm convinced her issues had more to do with this than the language barrier)--but she hasn't had an accident in a couple of weeks.

Lily also seems to be making friends. She talks about two little girls in particular all the time. She waves to them in the morning as we wait for the school gate to open. And they all smile back (waving seems to be more of an American thing than French...I can never get French people to wave back at me--they sort of nod their head, if anything). Her two friends also stay for the school lunch every day, and Lily talks about eating with them and how much fun it is.

And let me tell you about the lunch. Oh my word. It costs three euros a meal (which is automatically withdrawn from our bank account every month). Lunch is three courses long and takes about an hour. The kids all sit down at little tables and are served--no cafeteria line here. They eat on real plates, with real cups and silverware. Nothing is plastic. The first course is the salad course...an example from her school's menu...endive with vinaigrette. Next up is the main dish...an example from her school's menu...a filet of veal with buttered carrots. And finally they have their dessert. Most of time it's fresh fruit or yogurt with cheese...because all four year olds eat Camembert for dessert, right? Apparently, in France they do. Lily raves about the food, and I'm happy she's being exposed to the variety. (I can only ever get her to eat peanut butter and jelly for me.) I've heard from some French friends that the teachers also instruct the kids about table manners. So that's great...I'll pay three euros for that any day!

And the language...it is truly amazing for me to watch the transformation taking place. She spoke NO French before starting school. And simple words that we were trying to get her to say, like "bonjour" and "au revoir," she wouldn't say because she was embarrassed. Five weeks later, she is singing entire songs in French. Granted, she might not know what she is saying exactly, but she knows all the words. I've heard that I won't know how much French she knows until I can watch her play with other French kids her age...and I can kinda already see that. She now says "Assieds-toi" (sit down) constantly to Zachary and she says, "attendre" (wait) to everything. The funniest word to me is "Voilà!", and the frequency with which she uses it. The French say this word so, so, so, often for everything- and Lily has picked right up on that. She sounds like a native speaker when she says it! She is counting in French and the other day she asked me to wear the "rouge" sweater (she wasn't being funny, it seemed like it was the first word that popped into her brain). So I'm dumbfounded and jealous and in awe at a child's ability to understand a language.

And even though Lily has made all this progress and we were just getting used to new schedules and routine, I am thrilled to have her home for two weeks. I miss her while she's at her long, long day at school. I wish I was the kind of Mom who had tons of fun, child-centered activities lined up to do with her during the two weeks off, but I don't. Today we went to IKEA for some stuff for the house. As she pushed her little shopping cart around the huge store she said to me, "I'm so happy to be shopping with you Mommy. Aren't you so happy to be shopping with me?" I almost broke down in tears. I love having my little side kick next to me! We didn't have filet of veal for lunch today, I treated her to McDonald's.

Her school and her language learning can wait--she seems to be doing well and I'm proud of how brave and flexible she is about all the change. But right now, it's vacation, and I'm "entitled" to enjoy my kid for a couple of weeks.