Off to school

Just 2 hours ago we took our baby to a strange building and dropped her off with perfect strangers. Yes, we took her to school. She walked right into her classroom and said hello to her teacher and then sat down with some other children to play with blocks until it was time for class to begin. She should be having snack soon. She was very excited about going to school, but Mommy and Daddy are feeling a little lost without her. Mariska is enjoying having 2 grown-ups hanging on her every word and learning what it was like when Katriana was an only child. As we were leaving we talked to another Mom with a little girl in Katriana's class and another little girl about Mariska's age and she said that the teacher is "the teacher" that every parent wants their prep student to get and she's the leader for the prep teachers. Ahhhhh, I can breathe a sigh of relief. Katriana has a good teacher.

Now, to answer a couple of questions that I'm sure you have. Yes, she's wearing a uniform. All public schools in Australia wear uniforms. Yes, her first day was at the end of January. In Australia it is a year-round schedule, so the school year begins at the end of January and concludes around mid- December. Their summer break is about 6 weeks long with other breaks throughout the year. Prepatory or Prep is the first grade in Australian schools, similar to U.S. kindergarten. The birthday cut-off is April 30th, so Katriana is one of the older kids in her class. Mariska will be one of the youngest and will actually start school at 4, just before she turns 5. Only 4 hours left until we go rescue, ummm, pick-up our baby. :)