Preschool Update

We survived our first day of preschool! Thank you for all the prayers as Molly, Hudson and I started preschool today. All in all, I consider it a big success. Hudson cried a lot as we were dropping him off in his classroom, but he settled in within a few minutes and was happily playing when I came in an hour and a half later for the English lesson in his class. He participated so nicely during that time (I was afraid he'd want me to hold him the whole time) but had another meltdown when I was leaving again. Hopefully he'll get used to me coming and going. The teachers were very attentive and carried him around to soothe and distract him. He is the only one not potty trained at the school -- it's an attendance requirement, which apparently they're making an exception for with us. They do change his diaper there, although they don't seem to be as familiar with diapers since it's the Chinese way to potty train basically from birth, in a "go on command" style. (If you're curious, diapers are available here. I've seen Pampers, Huggies and even Pull-Ups, which I wasn't expecting. But the prices are pretty much identical to the US, which makes them an extravagant purchase.)

When I dropped Molly off in her classroom, she immediately went over to the table, sat down with her breakfast (bowl of noodles with half of a hard-boiled egg on top) and waved, "Bye Mom!" This is exactly how they've always reacted to preschool, BSF, Sunday school, etc. One of the administrators took me under her wing and guided me through the morning. Her English ability was very sufficient -- leaps and bounds ahead of my Chinese -- and she helped out in each classroom I visited. The kids were sweet, and the time went by quickly. I know now how to prepare for next week, and hopefully I can encourage the shy ones to feel comfortable speaking up. I wish I could post pictures! I was finished for the day at 10:30, so I enjoyed a nice lunch date with Kevin. When we picked up the kids at 5, they were excited to see us but in very good hands. The teachers are all very gracious and seem happy to have us there. And the kids have been very positive tonight as they've recounted the day. Molly has already been talking about what she is going to wear next time and what book she wants to bring along in her backpack. :)

We learned tonight that the water will be shut off for two days starting tomorrow morning. Apparently something needs to be fixed in our area of the city. We're thankful we heard in advance so we can fill buckets and pots tonight with extra water. (We always keep one bucket of water on our porch because it's rare to have advance notice.) Kevin is washing dinner dishes now, and I'll run a load of laundry as soon as he's finished.

We're excited that we'll be using our guest room again tomorrow night -- our third guest in as many weeks here! Our close friend Linda (a Chinese teacher at the college where we taught before) is arriving tomorrow afternoon. She will spend Friday night with us and accompany us to travel back there on Saturday morning. Although we've navigated trains in China before, we're thankful to have her help with us this weekend as we travel with our kids for the first time by train. It's just a little over two hours by express train, and we'll get to spend most of Saturday and half of Sunday catching up with our friends there and attending the International Fellowship for Easter worship. We feel blessed in so many ways!
~Dayna