A Bit of Peace

This morning was really hard.  My girls are very close, and their classrooms were across the hall from each other.  Their teachers aides are sisters.  They LOVED being at the same school.  When Miss M woke up this morning, she cried big round tears when she remembered that she and SB would not be going to the same school any longer.  SB was, is apprehensive about going to a new school, adamant that she will return to her former school.  She loathes change.  She is so thoroughly her father's child.

It was hard to walk into that building this morning, to put on a smile and say good morning to the principal whose leadership I have lost all faith in.  And of course, I had to walk in the building with not just Miss M, but SB, too, because I had nothing else that I could do with her when it was time to drop off Miss M.  Miss M's teacher hugged me when she saw me, and the girls' aides circled around us and made a big fuss over SB.  It was so kind, and so sad.  I am really disappointed in how this all turned out.  This just isn't what I want.

But it's not about me, and it's not about what I want.  It's about making sure that my kids are happy and healthy.  We visited SB's new school today, too, to drop off paperwork.  She instantly loved the head of the school, and ran into her office today when we got there.  We got the financial stuff squared away (they will prorate), and everything is all set for her to start.  We are wading in slowly, so she'll do an hour tomorrow, and then start on Wednesday.  When we visited today, she was delighted to see that they already had her name in a cubby.  She flashed a huge grin, then clapped her hand over her mouth.  They had a picture of her, too, and her name printed onto a school bag to take home her school things at the end of the week.  They had a picture of her in the classroom already, and they gave us a laminated copy of pictures of all of the kids in the class, her included, with all of the kids first names.  She carried it around all afternoon, and proudly showed it off to her big sister and her father when they got home.

They let us see the classroom today, too.  The classroom at her old school is huge and bright and beautiful, but there were so many limitations on everything.  "Don't touch" was her old teacher's unofficial motto.  When her new teacher showed us the dramatic play center at her new school today, SB quite forlornly told us that only a certain student (the teacher's favorite, whose mother regularly volunteers in the classroom) got to do dramatic play every day, and the teacher didn't let SB.  I think her new teacher was a little taken aback, and quickly reassured her that she could do it every day.  She can also paint. . .every day.  There is an easel with tempura paints all set up in the classroom, and the kids are free to use it.  She looooooves to paint, so I think that will be huge.  And there are hours a day of playground time, too.  But not just regular old playground. . .they had a tent set up, and props, so the kids could do dramatic play outside, too.  I think it's going to be really good for her.  Fingers crossed.