School and Coo

Today was Gusi's first day of preschool in Dakar. He did really well. I dropped him off and took the baby along. We put his backpack and lunch bag in his cubby, he went over and checked in*, he gave me a kiss good-bye and off he went to work on a train puzzle. I took the baby and walked out the door. No big deal, like he'd done it a million times before.

When I finally got home the baby and I had some alone time. Since early this morning he has been very into communicating with me--the most I've ever seen him do. When he woke up around 5:30am (yes, that early), I nursed him in bed half asleep but he (for the first time) reached his little hand up and kept caressing my face. I could barely make out the eye contact he was trying to make with me, but it was incredibly touching. So when I got home and had some time to dedicate just to him he was cooing with excitement. He was such a happy baby when there was quiet in the house and he had me all to himself.

Later Papi came to pick me up and we went to pick Gusi up at school. The baby was fine up until we took him out of the car and into the heat--he really doesn't like it, he fusses all the time. Gusi was all sweaty from playing outside. He had had a good day. His teachers told me that he jumped right into things and wasn't a bit shy. He managed to sit down on the potty before snack time but nothing. Then later when he was running around the yard he had an accident of the wet kind. (He's still learning this potty thing, but he is wearing underwear instead of diapers. We're only doing diapers at night now since that dryness tends to take a bit longer.) As we drove home I read the syllabus his teacher had left in his cubby (he's starting about 6 weeks later than the other kids) and asked what activity they had done with circles today. He told me that they had made smiley faces and talked quite a bit about his day in a very positive way. He obviously liked it so he'll go back tomorrow. It will be interesting to see how he does going to school 5 days a week vs 2 as he did back in the US. At least he knows and will socialize with all his classmates outside of school so that will make the experience more enjoyable. I know half the parents in his class and there are three other children who speak Spanish as their first language so I'm sure he'll feel some comfort in that.

In all it was a great to see my big boy starting a new chapter in his life and see my little baby begin communicating with me. Quite a day.

* Gusi's teacher has all of their names laminated in extra large font which she places on a table next to the wall. They also have a large envelope on the wall with their name on it. Each morning the children have to find their name from the group of names and put it in their envelope. It teaches them the beginnings of letter recognition as well as making them feel special to have their names up on the wall and helps the teachers keep track of attendance.