When Stephen started his nonsense again this morning at school–screaming and crying for me to carry him–I thought about telling him that people in New Orleans, Mississippi, and other parts of the South had a lot more reason to cry than he did. Didn’t think it would have much of an impact, though, so I reiterated my usual lecture about not crying, screaming, or hitting.

The second day of school was both worse and better than yesterday. He screamed and cried more but also seemed to enjoy more of the activities too. Today they played with the toys in the classroom; went outside for P.E. to jump over and climb under ropes and hoops; learned their shapes; and colored and traced the letters Aa.

Next week, the teachers want me to leave him with them and I’ve already apologized profusely in advance for any expected appalling behavior. As for Stephen, I’ve promised him a menagerie of animal figures if he’s able to be nice next week. Yes, I give incentives (don’t call them bribes!) for good behavior.*

One of the problems with living overseas away from close family and friends is the lack of people we can trust to take care of Stephen in our stead. I suspect that the transition to being without me at school would be easier if we’d had more opportunity to be apart before. Then again, plenty of parents have told me that their children cried for days or even months despite always having been at daycare. Could just be an issue of temperament. I swear he didn’t get the “fear of school” gene from me.

And the noodle posts continue….

*I envy for their painless transition to school days.

ETA: When it was time for the kids to go to P.E., Stephen didn’t want to go because he thought they were going “pee pee.”