Back to school - Little Man

So, this Summer has been a fairly tough one on Little Man.

While he continued to go to creche in the same place that he attended Junior Montessori last year, some of his friends were off for the Summer. And he missed them terribly. Even worse, "school" itself had changed on him, bringing exciting things like going to an Upstairs room in which we Wear Our Shoes All Day, but also bringing the crushing disappointment of Being On Summer Holidays.

Yes, you read that right. My poor boy came to me in tears, more than once, to tell me that they "don't even do work in the upstairs room!". We were at great pains to explain what Summer holidays were, and that he had lots of Montessori work to look forward to in a few short weeks. In the meantime, we got him puzzle books and spent the Summer doing spot the difference, join the dots, number recognition and even the beginnings of phonics at home in the evenings.

Little Man is one of those kids who loves to work hard, he knows he's smart and really enjoys showing off what he's learned. He's very competitive, and while that brings a work ethic that will stand him in good stead, I know there are hard times coming down the line when he first learns that actually he can't possibly be the best at everything. Still, for the moment we had our bouncy, happy boy back. He skipped through the Summer holidays, pointing out letters and numbers on every sign we passed, drawing triangles and aliens with 10 eyes and four arms. Happiness reigned.

Yesterday, finally, was the first day back at Montessori. We'd been counting down the remaining sleeps for about a week. With great ceremony we woke Little Man for his first day back. Photos were taken of he and Little Lady with their lunch bags, and off we went to embrace a brand-new day of learning.

When I collected them, I learned that this week is a "settling in week". Which makes sense. Of course it does. Some of the kids have never been to the creche before, some are skipping Junior Montessori and going straight to Senior Montessori from the creche's Toddler Room. Any Mammy worth her salt would have realised that these kids need to be acclimatised before they start any lessons. This Mammy did not. So, I collected my broken-hearted Little Man and his gorgeous sister, and we spent the evening cutting out triangles with brand-new safety scissors.
Tonight, perhaps we'll start Latin... amo, amas, amat, amamus...