The Big Day

Here she is!  In all her first-day-at-a-new-school-glory!  Can you believe I didn't take a picture in front of the school?  What kind of a mom am I?  I think I forgot because we were so nervous about being late and figuring out where we were supposed to go when no one there speaks enough English to tell us, ha!  Hopefully, I'll remember to take one on the way in tomorrow...

The day went really well, I think.  When we went to pick her up, the teacher told us (through our friend translating on the phone) that she was a little shy at first but once they started doing activities she did really well.  She said that it was obvious that Katie is good at trying out new situations.  I'll say!  What a kid! 

From Katie's side of things, she said her favorite part were the morning exercises.  Can you blame her?  She said that before that the teacher just read to them from a book and she didn't understand any of it.  I asked her if it was a picture book and she said that it was a chapter book.  Boo, that would be boring in another language, don't you think? (All this detail, by the way, is purely for the grandparent-readers out there who I know are salivating to know every teensy tiny detail.)  She was a little disappointed that she only made one friend--I told her that one was pretty good for the first day and that it was a total answer to what I had prayed!  She said that the little girl spoke a little English (hooray!) and that her name was Nickel.  (Hmm...Katie might have made this up but it's not likely since I had some former students with English names like "Ice" and "Birds" and knew of another teacher with a student named "Green Lighthouse" or something like that.  Compared to those, Nickel actually seems like a cool name!)  All in all, I think things went well.  We are praising God that Day 1 was so good and are hopeful that Day 2 will be even better.

Oh, and how could I forget the real success of the day?! 
Me:  Did you go to the bathroom there, Katie?
K:  Yes!  They had a handlebar in there so I didn't fall over!

Of course we had to get a shot outside the practice potty!

Back story:  Per a friend's good advice, I took Katie to a public restroom yesterday to practice using a squatty potty.  (Can you believe we've managed to avoid them until now?)  It went, um, okay.  To be honest, I wasn't at all sure of how she'd do without someone there to help her out and hold all of her clothing out of the way so it wouldn't get, you know, wet.  Per the same friend, I packed an extra set of clothing in Katie's backpack and somehow explained to her teacher what it was for.  "Just in case."  Thanks to the "handlebars" the extra clothes didn't have to be used!  Hooray!