This is the way I go to school

A1 started school yesterday. The village school was a stone's throw away so we could all walk to school. We left as a family to send him to school. He was on his balance bicycle and always ahead of us.

School starts at 9am and the gate is open only at 8.50am. We arrived 5 mins before the gate opened. The mayor of the village was there shaking hands with parents. I assumed he was the mayor as he was the oldest man around and everyone seemed to know him. And of course, he came shaking our hands. No stranger would do that except for politicians, right?

As we expected, A1 did not want to go into the school gate. Seb had to carry him in while he struggled and cried. A2 however had no problem of such and even went into the classroom, sat on a chair and started playing with a puzzle. We introduced ourselves to the teacher and her assistant and tried to settle A1. 

A1 is in the class of Petite Section (PS) which translates to Little Section. There are about 12 students so the class is mixed with the Moyenne Section (MS) which translates to Middle Section. Thus the teacher will be taking care of 24 kids of 3 and 4 years old. We do like this idea of having a mix class. Maybe A1 can learn more advance things when the teacher is teaching the MS students.

We brought A1 around the classroom to show him the activities, toys, games, books etc... to familiarize him with his new environment. He was playing when I said goodbye to him and quickly left him. I saw him crying and his teacher trying to calm him down. That was already 9.25am by then. There were also a few kids weeping.

At 1.20pm, I decided to go do grocery shopping. Despite Seb telling me not to, the temptation was too great and I drove by the school to check out on A1. It was lunch break time and the kids were playing in the front court. I stopped at the school carpark  and from the car, I could see my boy standing in a corner with his head down. He was about 50m away from me. He seemed so sad while all the other kids were playing. A school staff came over to him and talked to him. She left when a student came to ask her something. A1 then turned to the leaving assistant and pointing at his nose. I knew that meant that he had runny nose. Did that mean he was crying? Another school staff came over to him and then fetched a piece of tissue paper for him. I assumed they both worked in the canteen as they were wearing white overalls. After that his class assistant came over and talked to him; seemingly encouraging him to go play with the kids in the sand box. I saw A1 shaking his head. The class assistant then took him into the school and I lost sight of my boy. Wow. That scene just broke my heart. Seb was right. I should not have gone peeping on my boy. But at least, I knew he was well taken care of. I left to do grocery shopping after.

At 4.25pm, we arrived at the gate waiting for A1. School ended at 4.30pm and his teacher led the class out in a file of two. We saw A1 holding hand with his classmate and looking happy and proud. He straightened up when he saw us. At the gate, the teacher presented one student at a time and called out his/her name for the parents to come get the kid. When it was A1's time, I went over and gave him a big hug. Seb asked if he had a good day and he said yes. We bombarded him with lots of questions like 'What did you eat?', 'Did you do pipi, caca?', 'What did you do?', 'Do you have many friends?' etc.... He told us what he had for lunch and that he did 5 times pipi and one caca. He did not play with friends but play with toys.

At night, I asked him what he did after lunch, he said he was calling for us. He said 'Papa... many times.' and 'Mama.... many times'. 'Mais pas là'. But we were not there. I felt so sad when he said that. He was calling for us at the school court hoping that we would come bring him home. From the feedback given by the teacher (I actually waited until she was free and asked her questions about A1), he cried a little in the morning but in the afternoon, he enjoyed himself.

Today is a wednesday and there is no school. Tomorrow will be another school day for A1. He is not looking forward to it. I will be bringing A1 to school tomorrow with A2. I hope that A1 won't be too difficult tomorrow morning.