first day of school

mya's teacher didn't seem to understand that i wanted HER to pose with mya, so this is what we did instead. picture chris but with a korean lady's face. that is ms. minaun.

mya jumped right into discovering her new room. glad to know she is consistent--making messes wherever she goes.

ms. minaun keeping a watchful eye on mya's messes--only kidding, she was describing some of the toys mya was finding.

i asked claire to smile for a picture and this is what i got. despite her expression and who knows what is going on with her hands, she really was excited for her first big day. she had a blast too, despite a "brown girl saying down to me." we work a lot on colors and describing EVERYTHING as you may be able to tell. anyway, the deal is that she most likely wasn't giving another child an opportunity to ride the big bike, so the girl told her "down," which must have been a simplified request to get off. who knows?!! claire wasn't so sure she should go back for day 2 after that experience.

our kids have never been to a cdc before. not sure it is my idea of a great school, but it is all we have right now. a fellow teacher told me to lower my expectations and i should be just fine with this decision. hmmm. mya has a korean teacher, which chris is not crazy about (yes, this is the same guy who thought it would be great to throw them into a korean daycare). she doesn't seem to be the most loving, nurturing person that i've met, which makes me a bit nervous. claire, on the other hand, has a teacher who is a military spouse. she is younger and seems very nice. they were both very happy to greet our children and helped them as we said good-byes. my school is about 4 blocks away, so after the first day, i walked past the cdc to chris' work to pick him up. on my way by, i noticed mya on the playground. she was just standing there. it totally broke my heart. i was ready to run in there and save her when i saw her move toward the play car. moments later i watched as this older (18 months) boy bolted right in front of her and took the car out from under her. i was even more deeply saddened. so hard to watch. i decided i'd check on claire and see how she was doing before i broke down the door to rescue mya. claire was on the other side of the playground (separated by a fence) having a splendid time. she was watching the other kids playing and kind of doing her own thing. i caught her attention and listened as she filled me on the activity. she was all smiles. that girl just loves school. i mosied on to chris. we returned minutes later to find mya in the toy car--crying. it was frustrating. she was soooo excited to see us. claire, too, but she was fine--riding the bike and interacting with another little girl. day 2 seemed better. mya was playing with another little person and all seemed well. i did get a call, which was interesting regarding mya's diaper rash (she often gets a diaper rash when she is teething--which is all the time, but that is another post. the kiddo is crackin some molars now). anyway, her teacher was all worried because mya was fussy and she has a very bad rash on her bum. (i just changed the kid's diaper this morning and the rash is nearly gone, not to mention---where was her concern yesterday. did she change her diaper at all or do so in the dark? i mean, really.) anyway, i can't buy anything on base because i don't have a ration card and chris was in court all day (again, another story altogether). they were less than pleased with my response of "it'll have to wait until tomorrow." oh well. i picked her up and the korean teacher started rambling about the diaper rash issue. the american assistant interjected and tried to explain that she had it wrong..the diaper rash looked to be healing. all i can say is...WHAT THE??? and MY CHILDREN'S LIVES ARE IN THEIR HANDS?!! what were we thinking? ugh.