Bogdan's first lesson

He has a funny camera face these days.

Bogdan has waited and waited to start art school. He thought summer would never end! But it finally did. Today was his first day. We signed him up for both art and a weekly preschool-ish class there at the art school. The latter was what he had today.

We told him that he needed to go to sleep right away at nap time, because I would be waking him up to go to class. I didn't know how that would work, because I tried to wake him up for a special program at church yesterday, and I couldn't do it. But today he jumped up, flew to get his shoes on, grabbed his snack, and ran for the bus stop. After we got off the bus, he ran again. I could barely keep up with him. But then we got to the classroom... and he froze up. I asked if I could leave him, and he said, "Better not to." So, I sat in the back for the first bit. The teacher had the kids introduce themselves. Bogdan did say his whole name (not Bobo!) loud and clear. Then she asked his last name, and he slid right down in his chair, so that she couldn't see him under the table. She asked his age, and from under the table he held up a hand showing four fingers, but he wouldn't say it aloud.

The teacher was really good about trying to draw him out, but not overwhelm or force him. He seemed to be warming up a little later, so I went out into the hall to read. I could hear his little voice off and on, and he seemed to be doing fine. They did riddles and clay and matching and coloring and talked about the letter A and more. When they finished--the class is a whole two hours long!--he came out jumping up and down and so excited that he could barely contain himself. I asked him if he liked it, and he said, "Very!" (That works in Russian.) He hasn't stopped talking about it since.

So, we have a real preschooler in our family now, not just a homeschooled one.