It's almost time. . .

It's 11:42 PM and the first day of school is technically only about 20 minutes away. Evan went to bed right away, which surprised me, because he so very excited about school. He's a little worried too, and that makes me worried! So many things I want to tell him, but it seems like so much, and how will he ever remember it all??? It's so weird for me to think that he's starting 4th grade yet doesn't know about any school procedures that most kids have known since Kindergarten or 1st grade.

I worry that he will be scared to ask if he doesn't understand something, that he'll get his feelings hurt because someone doesn't understand his accent, that he'll mess around at lunch and won't have time to finish his food, that he won't find a friend, that he won't attempt to try something because he's never done it before, and on and on. . . But, I'm trying to have faith that he's going to be just fine and that I'm just a big ol' worrywart, just like my mom. I discovered that a teacher friend of ours has a son who will be in Evan's class. She quickly assured me that her son would be more than happy to lend Evan a helping hand these next few weeks until he figures out the routine of an American school. That takes some of the worry away.

I guess I'm also thinking I wouldn't be worrying so much if I didn't have my own worries about starting at a new school and grade. Kindergarten is going to be a big challenge for me this year, and I just really need to get some sleep. Many, many hours trying to get my room ready, get 21 kids screened before school starts, an Open House for parents this past Monday, and of course, trying to figure out what to do with the kids the first week of school. Most people have absolutely no idea what teachers do to start a school year, and if you saw my to-do list, you'd understand why phone calls and emails from friends/family haven't yet been returned these last two weeks. Lots of craziness in our home and at school.

Well, hopefully by the weekend, I'll have an update for you on how the first 3 days of school went for Evan (and me!) Pictures too, if you're lucky!!!! :-)

Ready or not, here comes school!

This past Wednesday we took Evan to his new school for registration. His comment when we got out of the car was, "Wow! Big!" This made me smile because his new school WILL have more students than his school in Ukraine (500+ here, 200+ there), but the building itself is smaller, probably about 90 years newer, and smells so much better!

At the moment, he's not assigned to a 4th grade teacher because the principal is waiting for the ok to hire a new teacher for his grade. There are 32 kids in one class and 33 in the other, not including Evan! That's too many kids!!!! We are hoping to know by Monday if the situation improves. I was glad we had the chance to speak to the principal for several minutes so we could introduce Evan and explain that he is new to America. She was very reassuring about her goals for students in the English as a New Language program, and expressed her support that we're putting him in a grade level below his biological age friends. We were also told about an extra tutoring program on Tues-Thurs. that we may enroll Evan in to help him further.

I showed Evan around some of the school (I used to sub there while I was going back to school for my education degree), and then a teacher friend of ours came by and gave Evan the more personal tour. His eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger! We left the school feeling very excited about his education and decided to celebrate by taking him out to lunch. After arriving at the restaurant, Evan mentions, "Um, Mom-- my tummy!" Off I sent him and Tim to the bathroom!!! I guess it was better that he got sick inside instead of in the car! I'm beginning to think some of the car sickness is anxiety related. He's been fine on numerous trips lately, both long (3-4 hours) and short, and hasn't gotten sick. We'll see what happens in 2 weeks when school officially begins.

Speaking of which, we made the decision that I'll be driving Evan to school in the morning and enrolling him in the before-school care program. This way I won't have to worry about him waiting at home for a bus, and it's not really too far out of the way to take him on the way to my new school. Tim will then pick him up after school each day since the high school gets out almost an hour earlier than the elementary schools. The other advantage to this system is that Evan won't have to worry about the "stop/start" motion of a school bus and potentially getting sick in front of his friends. Who wants to send a kid off to school and remind him to put a gallon-size ziplock bag in his backpack????

We've been working on Evan's reading and math, computer skills, and he also knows his address, phone number, and the name of his new school. He's slowly getting the Pledge of Allegiance, and we've talked about procedures in Ukrainian schools vs. American schools. Turns out you have to raise your hand, wait to talk, be respectful of others, and be a good listener in Ukraine, too! He's definitely talking SO much now, and some days it's all I can do not to shout, "STOP talking!" :-) Our little shy guy is coming out of his shell and is becoming more comfortable with all things American every day.

Evanism #2

In an earlier post, I wrote about how affectionate Evan is and how he will ask for kisses and hugs all the time. We hear, "Where are my kisses??" quite a bit these days. Tonight Evan was watering the flowers out front while I was deadheading (is that a word?) them, and he said, "Mom. The Doctor said Evan needs lots of kisses!!!!!" I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing and smothered him with lots of kisses. You could tell he was proud of himself, and I can't help but be proud of him for coming up with this and being able to translate it into English. He's quite a character!!! Never a dull moment at the "Triple Decker" House!

A Tall Tooth Tale (or story to be shared with Evan at a later date!)

Evan was happily munching on a raw carrot tonight when all of a sudden he said, "Mom, look!" And, in his hand he was proudly holding a tooth! His mouth was full of blood, and he was grinning from ear to ear. I am so used to seeing my little first graders happily showing me their toothy grins, but I really wasn't prepared to see Evan lose a tooth. We went to the sink, rinsed out his mouth, and spent some time looking at both the tooth and the new hole in his mouth. Then he strutted outside to tell Tim all about it.

I then asked him if they have the Tooth Fairy in Ukraine. He looked at me with a puzzled look, and I explained as well as I could about how we have to leave his tooth under his pillow and then the Tooth Fairy would leave him some money. Evan was already pretty excited about the whole Tooth Fairy thing, and then when I told him he'd get money, boy, I think I saw his eyes double in size!!!

So, then tonight we went through our nightly bedtime routine, and I had almost shut Evan's door, when I remembered that we needed to put his tooth under his pillow. I told Evan to hold on while I went into the kitchen to fish it out of the small paper cup of water I had placed it in. I can't find it, and I learned that Tim had thrown out the water (and the tooth!) into the sink!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently he didn't realize that I put it there! He tried reaching into the sink/disposal without luck, so we quickly ran outside to the backyard to find a small pebble or something to put in the envelope as a decoy. Of course, we cannot find a pebble small enough, so I frantically tell him to get one of the peas out of a pea pod. I throw one into the envelope, lick it, and run back to Evan's room where he'd been waiting. I then had to come up with something fast, so I said, "Ok, your tooth is in this envelope, and we need to put it under your pillow. The Tooth Fairy will NOT come and leave you money if you look at it, touch it, or even think about it!!!! Promise????" Evan promptly promised, and under the pillow the tooth went. WHEW!

So, who's coming over to try taking the envelope out and replacing it with money????? Yeah, I didn't think so! Someday Evan will look back on this and laugh; RIGHT?!?!?!?!

Evanisms

As we help Evan learn how the fine English language works, we've had a few laughs along the way. We were reading a book together this week, and he came across the word, "sack." He wanted to know if it was like vomiting (this through pantomime)-- sick. He laughed as I really stressed the short a vowel sound. He's discovered rhyming words and likes to make up fun little chants. His latest one is "Knock, knock, 9 o'clock!" He also came up with "Vanya Lasagna" the other night at dinner. Not sure I'll be able to say just plain lasagna after that!

Geography is always a challenge with younger kids, and my favorite "Evanism" (to date) is the following: He was riding his bike with Tim this week, and they were perhaps 6 blocks away from our house. Tim said that Evan kept saying, "Wow! Indiana's big!!!"