School Days

Well, this week starts the school year for the greater Stavanger area, and we started our week at the International School of Stavanger. Aaron is on a business trip this week to Poland & Berlin, so I am flying solo right now.

All I have to say is wow, what a school! ISS has a beautiful campus and consists of students from pre-K to 12th grade, about 700 students from over 40 countries. Americans make up many of the students, with Great Britain having the most students attending there. Avery doesn't make the cut-off for Kindergarten, so she is starting her third year of preschool (she should earn a degree for this!). There are two pre-K classes each with about 18 kids.

Monday was "Meet the Teacher" day and I took her to meet Miss Anthea Demos, her lead teacher. Miss Anthea is from Austin, TX and taught Kindergarten for the past 6 years there. She also attended the ISS as a child as her father was in the oil industry here when she was about 8 years old. She is adorable, sweet, very smart & organized and right away Avery warmed up to her. I was so nervous that day but Avery walked right in, introduced herself, sat down at the table and started telling her all about herself, her brother, her dog, horses, unicorns, dogs, cats, our new house, etc. There was not one ounce of hesitation or anxiety coming from this little big girl. I was such a proud mama. The classroom is gorgeous, and there are two other helper teachers, Miss Lizzie & Mrs. Alison there to help teach the 4B "Busy Bees". I was handed a huge welcome packet and had to fill out some forms. We went on a quick tour of the school and that was it....for the first day.

On Tuesday, we had to wake up early because her school day starts at 0830. We headed out to the school with Logan at around 0815...it's about 3 miles away on a country road, driving right along Hafrsfjord. Our house is absolutely in the perfect location for so many things!! She had her lunch, her backpack, her rain gear (they go out 2 times a day in all weather) and I had all of the paperwork to get her registered. We found her cubby & coat hook outside her classroom and she gave me a big hug. And that was it....that's when it happened....ugh I completely started sobbing!!! The thing is about this kid, she understands that mommies sometimes cry when we are happy, not always sad. She recognized this, hugged me, patted me on the back a few times and whispered to me "it's ok mama, I'm gonna be fine, this is gonna be great". And then of course I REALLY LOST IT THEN!! Miss Lizzie saw the whole thing and rushed over with a box of tissues for me. HA HA so embarrassing! Parents could stay for the morning if we wanted to, but I didn't feel the need. Avery was doing great, talking to the other kids at the table, and besides...I had Logan with me. I started to leave when Logan finally realized he was leaving his sister behind....HE then completely lost it! He went face down like a big "X" in the middle of the carpet, screaming "Avery! Avery! I stay with Avery!" and pointing at her. These two have spent every single moment together for the past 3 months and have bonded so wonderfully...and Logan liked it exactly that way!! Poor thing, it took us another 30 minutes to get out of the building...step by step. Which turned out to be a good thing because on the way out I met a woman named Heidi...

Heidi has lived here in Norway for 5 years and has two boys (Fraser & Ewan) about 6 months behind each of our kids. She is a beautiful blond New Yorker who is married to a Scot who works for one of the oil companies here. She speaks Norwegian too, and talked with me for about an hour outside (the little ones played on the playground) about all things Stavanger, Norway. I was lucky to meet her. My Norwegian friend Ingerlise, from our first week here at the hotel, joined us with her little one and she & Heidi hit it off immediately, too. And then...then they started talking!!! Whew I was like a sponge taking in all of the information these two were passing...so despite all of the emotion & tears, the morning turned out super great.

Well Logan finally let me put him in the car and we headed home. I am keeping Logan home a few months as I research Norwegian preschools for him. He is too young to attend ISS and there are SO MANY options for attending Norwegian programs...I just have to pick a school and get him on the waiting list. I am NOT ready to drop him off ANYWHERE!!! LOL. Half days only this week for Avery, I pick her up at noon. Next week is FULL DAY, 5-days a week! I wonder how I am going to handle THAT!? I know one thing for sure though...my girl will be just fine! xoxo

*UPDATE* I picked Avery up at noon and she ran out of the classroom to give me a big hug. She said she was really good and didn't cry! She told me about her new friends April, Jack & Elizabeth.... (I told ya!)