Claire - Yochien Wrap Up

Claire did really well her first week at yochien!

The first full day, we anxiously awaited her arrival on the bus.  They don't come home until 3:30!

Here it comes!  (Please, oh please, don't let her be crying!)

 There she is!!!!!!!  All SMILES!!!!!!!

Thank you Sensei Chisano for bringing my little girl back home to me!

But then the Sensei tells me that she has a red mark on her chest and has been itching since the playground.  We look at it all night and it grows a bit.  I finally thought to draw around it with a marker to see if it would get bigger.  It doesn't and by morning, is pink, instead of red, and we can see three little marks where something bit her.

Also, tragedy struck at night because her special bunny and blanket (Why oh why OH WHY would I have been so stupid to send both of them in?) were left at school.  Rough night getting to sleep, rough night in the middle of the night when she woke up....rough night without bunny and blankie.  Sad.  :(

So the next morning, instead of putting her on the bus, I let her sleep in a bit and then drive her in with two index cards that Mick's fabulous, wonderful, stupendous secretary, Miss Mina-san, wrote that say (in English for me, in Japanese for the Senseis) "Claire Wagoner - send home" and "Claire Wagoner - leave at school."  And I look up the Japanese word for spider, which is kumo.  And mime "bite."

Oh, this is going too long.......anyway, we get it established which bag (small Princess backpack) will be "send home" and the stuff in the Lands End "Claire" bag will be left at school.  And the Senseis know that Claire doesn't have chicken pox, but something bit her and we're all good.

And she comes home happy again! (But no pictures.  I'm not going to show up each day at the bus stop with my camera.)

Whew!  What a first week this was!  Hooray for long weekends!!!!

On the bus!

The Japanese are very punctual and Claire, Gigi and I walked out in the nick of time and the bus came around the corner this morning at 8:30.

A Sensei rides on the bus with the kids each day.

Claire had a little trouble getting her bag on the bus with the big fluffy blanket that we'll keep at school so I helped her on, but she had no problem telling me goodbye.

All the cool kids sit in back!

I, however, cried, as soon as the bus was safely down the street enough.  It's hard putting your kid on the bus for the first time!

See you at 3:30 Claire!!!!!!!  I hope you have a wonderful day!!!!!!

  xoxoxoxo  

Love, Mommy

Claire's First Day at Yochien

We took the first day pictures in front of Miss Ning Ning's daisy garden, like her sisters did on their first day of school, but it was pretty sunny. 

"Claire, put your hand down."

Oh well.  ☺

The bus picks them up right outside of our house and we went out and saw the two kids get on.  I took her today so I could help her get adjusted.  We beat the bus there by a few minutes and then we got out of our "bus" (I wore a hat of Mick's in the van and told her I was her bus driver for the day!) and met the kids.  A Sensei rides the bus with the kids each day and she came right over and called one of the little girls and had her hold Claire's hand and off they went.  It felt so good to see my little Claire Bear taken care of so well!

The parking lot is a block or so away from the school.  The roads in Japan are narrow and the speed limits are really slow.  Which is good since there are no sidewalks!

Hug the fence, kids.  ☺

Then you go down a cute path and hooray!  We're here!!!!!!

We had to run last night to the YouMe Store for Claire's inside shoes.  She comes in, takes off her shoes, puts them in her cubbie and puts on her inside shoes.

Red for girls, blue for boys.

We went into her room and Sensei Ai gave Claire her smock to put on.  She started to take off her shirt, but I showed her that it went over her top.  I was really glad I was there to help her learn the basic routine!

And then she went over and played.  Because kids are kids and toys are toys.  That's a common language!

And here's something funny (to us Americans, or at least to me!)....she had to take her indoor shoes off to go on the carpeted area.  That's a lot of on and off!

But Gigi was happy to be able to get everybody's shoes out of order!  ☺

Then I wanted to show Claire the potties.  On the first floor, where the 3 and 4 year olds are, they are all Western potties.  Thank goodness. They're even small potties, which are Claire's favorite kind!  But it's still quite a routine.

She needs to come in and put on the blue shoes to go in the restroom. 

Then she doesn't wash her hands in the restroom, even though there's a sink there because there are no paper towels.  The kids all bring a towel with a loop on it (small scandal, ours didn't have a loop....need to get a few more at the YouMe Store soon) and they hang it in the room and that's where they dry their hands.  Another funny detail is there isn't liquid soap, but there is a bar of soap in those blue and pink nets below the faucet.  Lots to learn for the little girl!

Then I asked if she was okay and told her "PEACE OUT!" and she told me "PEACE OUT!"

And then she worked and worked on her fingers and told me "HOOK 'EM HORNS!"

My sweet little Claire Bear will do great!  I'm so proud of her!

 It was a short day today, but tomorrow she will go from 8:30 (when she gets on the bus) to 3:30 (when she gets off the bus).  She rode the bus home today and did great!

Way to go Claire!!!!!!!!!!