September 2nd was the big day, the day that our daughter was going to start preschool. Not just any preschool, but public preschool where only the director speaks English. For those that don't know this, we are Dutchies living in Hungary, and we both speak fluent English but no Hungarian. The teachers and assistants at my daughters school only speak Hungarian. Although our daughter isn't the only one that doesn't speak the language, it still was a bit exciting for both me and her. I've been there before, bringing my oldest to preschool (and school) for the first time, with tears in my eyes. Wondering if I should stay or leave when she was crying her eyes out. Everything turned out fine, and soon I was very used to having those few hours to myself. In Holland preschool was only 2x a week and only 2 and 2.5 hours, but it was just enough to work my ass off for a few hours so I could get the orders from my webshop out that day. School was only 1 minute from our home as well, so it was still all worth it. It was a huge advantage that I already experienced "the bring your kid to school for the first time-thing" because that made it so much easier this time.
I believe that the full month August was pretty stressful and therefore I was so so ready to bring the tiny human to preschool in September. We both were, actually. I was only worried about her not being able to tell the teacher what she needed, and getting frustrated. I mean, her preferred language is English, she often talks in English to me while I usually answer back in Dutch without even noticing that she's talking English as it feels natural. On top of that concern, there was this other huge thing hanging above our heads, she refused potty training! Little miss stubborn didn't even take bribes from us. At a certain moment I just thought that I should bring her to school with a diaper, and they should call me when she needed to be cleaned. Not ideal, of course. Then the parents meeting was there, one week before school started. And they explained to us that diapers weren't allowed at all in the school due to government regulations. So the best advice she could give me was to just take of the diaper and let her have accidents. Two weeks and it would be all good. I came back from the meeting telling her that I would not buy new diapers because the teacher explained to me they weren't allowed at school. And from tomorrow on (6 days before school started) we would only wear a diaper at night.
It was this, or probably be send back home until she was potty trained if there were too many accidents. Within 5 days she was potty trained and at this moment, 1 week later, she doesn't have accidents and even asks me to set the timer on my phone and waits until it goes off. She never had an accident at school, and her night diapers are dry. I'm so super proud of her! You'd think she is so motivated because she loves school, but even though things had gone a lot worse, she's still crying when I bring her. And every day when I pick her up, she tells me about playing in the playground or something else she did. Every day after I leave the building, I listen outside next to the window and don't hear her cry, so probably the drama is mainly as long as I'm in sight. I know it's best to keep explaining what's going to happen and that I always come back, and not take too much time for the goodbyes. The teachers will take care of her, and they all seem super sweet. I think they are all a good fit for the job, and very patient with every child that has a hard time when the parent leaves.
Because of these huge changes after spending her first 3 years at home with me there, I decided she was best of to go to school only in the mornings to start with. So both of us can get used to it, and hopefully in a month or so she will be able to go a full day. For me having the mornings to myself means that I can finally actually focus on my things for a few hours in a row, which is already making me very happy and focussed. It sucks having to leave her there in tears, but every time I pick her up she tells me that she cries because she misses me, which also makes me happy to be honest, because it's a normal emotion to have. I noticed when we're at home and daddy is here as well, she wants me to be there when she goes to the toilet and tells him he should go because she wants me. It can be exhausting, but I will just take some more time to cuddle her and make sure she knows I will always pick her up and also miss her. Because she seems to want/need me more at the moment, I also noticed that when I'm serious and warning her to stop something (in her behaviour) she takes it very very serious, and stops almost immediately. While it was first the other way around. So many changes for all of us, but I'm sure in a month from now things will go even smoother... Luckily children at that age pick up languages very quickly, and I'm confident (especially with her language knowledge so far) that she will be communicating in Hungarian with the teachers and children within no time.
My tiny human is growing up, she's a little lady that picks up things very quickly and sometimes seems to take 7 steps instead of 1 .. I'm so super proud of her, and I can't wait to travel to more countries and show her the beautiful things in this world as well, because that's our goal in the end. Traveling to many places and show her all different cultures so she will be a world citizen, a free soul that isn't locked up in a system they force to us by growing up starting at school. I want her to see beyond what you're told and should believe, not take things for granted, but investigate and form her own opinion... With new phases in life come new challenges.. but we will be there for her to face them together.. We love you little lady!
~Anouk
