We Need Cold

It's ALWAYS steaming hot on the equator! Anything that can cool us down usually makes life much more fun. One of Emma's favorite things to do is to eat some "strawberry blueberry" frozen yogurt at the local mall. All the workers at the yogurt store know and love her. They always remember what she orders. I'm waiting for Emma to bust out and say, "just put it on my tab, please. " :) On this particular day Emma received some balloons from the "yogurt peeps". BONUS!





We also enjoy making orange pop sickles and running around the neighborhood, literally. Yeah for cold things on hot days!!





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Emma's First Day of "School"

So she is only 2 1/2, what are we thinking?? School??? But those of you who know Emma, know that she is a super extrovert who loves learning and making friends. And we thought, her brain is a sponge right now, and we would really like her to soak up the local language, which she can't do through us much since we have thick American accents and most of what's spoken isn't anywhere near a local person's abilities. So, "school" is one option we thought might give her lots of exposure to the language and culture. She started a playgroup at a local Christian school today.

She was excited about wearing her uniform, the nametag, having a backpack (thanks, mimi!), and getting to sing songs, play with blocks/toys,etc.

She has over 30 kids in her class with 3 teachers for the first few months. Parents are allowed to be a part of the class for the first 1.5 months of the year. Than the "adaptation period" as they call it, is over and the kids have to be ok with just the teachers helping them. No Mommy. No Daddy. We think she will be ready by then if this turns out to be a good avenue for her to make friends and learn the language.

The best part of the day was when the teacher brought out some paper stars in different colors and she asked the kids what colors they were, in the local language of course. The teacher pulled out a yellow start and asked what color it was. Most kids were tired at that point, didn't care, were crying/scared, or didn't know. Emma yells out at the top of her lungs (in the local language), "YELLOW!!" :)

So needless to say, the first day went well. She had fun and I could tell after we got home, she felt even more empowered to learn and do new things. This afternoon she learned how to do a somersault by herself (she had been wanting to do it for a while but was a little timid; she did it with our help) and preceded to do about 20 of them in a row. :)

That's our Emma. :)

Click on the album below for photos and comments on her first day.

E First Day School