Saturday 9 February 2013

first week first year

On Monday morning, Poe's first day back at school I heard him wake Ilo excitedly by announcing he was going to school today, Ilo promptly burst into big sobbing tears, Poe, being Poe quickly tried to placate him; "It's okay Ilo, we will play all afternoon, we still get to sleep together and you can play with Sophie (Poe's doll he has had since he was one) when I am at school". Ilo, gulping back his sobs managed to agree to this but as I came in and looked at his tear streaked face I could feel his misery.
We were all going to miss Poe, holidays, as I may have mentioned before, have been delicious, a delight and so relaxing, bordering at times on laziness, yes it's true. We will miss the chatter between Poe and Ilo (and Lara) as they busy themselves creating all sorts of games, we will miss Poe's hugs and regular "I love you's", we will miss that wondrous laugh of his but will probably be kind of glad to not hear that occasional whiney voice that somehow manages to make heads hurt and ears bleed.
We were all very excited as we drove him up to school and visited his new classroom and greeted his schoolmates and teacher, the wonder and the excitement buzzing amongst the children was a delight to behold. 
This first week back as a big Year One student has been big, tiring but pretty fun by all accounts, Poe comes home with stories each day, his face alight with tales and songs that have been told, games played and lessons learnt. And then on Friday afternoon, Poe sits down at his craft table/desk and gets out an empty drawing book and declares that he will draw every picture that he drew at school that week in this book, so we know what he has been doing and so he does and it is heartbreakingly beautiful, he tells us about each drawing and why it was drawn in class; learning about patterns, James telling a story about a crystal ball, a mountain, a castle. 
And now, today Poe has set up classrooms for Ilo and Lara, he has crayons for them, dolls for students, blackboards (yes it is a Steiner school, so no fancy whiteboards for us) and a bell to ring. He has played school, many a time, but this is different, it is so detailed, so passionate, so clear with intent. 
We are enjoying the slowness of the weekend, time to enjoy each other, space to be alone, the absence of rush. 
Hope you are all having pleasant back to school experiences. 




Lunchbox for day one: 2 x falafels, almond butter wrap, boiled egg with smiley face (not shown), hummus, capsicum and carrot sticks, 2 x plums, 4 cherry tomatoes, a mango to share and three bliss balls. Bliss balls contained dried apricot, tahini, sesame seeds, sunflowers seeds, cashews, spirulina, coconut and cinnamon.
During the week Poe also had some corn chips with guacamole, spinach rolls, purple carrot, yoghurt and tahini, banana and coconut, a wrap with grated cheese, carrot, capsicum and alfalfa sprouts, grapes, apples and a small slice of Jude's apple and berry cake (but I used plums, peaches and nectarines).

10 comments :

  1. wow, glad that it has been a smooth ride for you. Love the school games. And the lunch - delicious! It's almost dinner time here and I'm drooling.. xx

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    1. Hi G, well yes, just payback for the amount of drooling you make me do over at your blog! xx

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  2. Jay, do you want to pack my lunch for me too..hehee! I'd be one very happy woman...xx

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    1. haha, thanks lovely, maybe one day, who knows. xx

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  3. Oh we had our class one starter too and yes I am with you. I miss my babies soooo badly and my little Lyra is lost with out her big bro and sister. She actually talks to them even though they are not here and it breaks my heart. Your school looks beautiful and I love the steiner colours and warmth. We too are greeted with these and their warmth seems universal. Love that. Your lunch and love is so generous and lovely. xxx

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    1. I know, i am such a sucker for the warmth, the aesthetic beauty but luckily it is mirrored in the teaching and school community. Thank you for your beautiful words, I hope this week is easier (for all of us). xx

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  4. Hmmm. I'm envious of every aspect of your back to school. Our back to mainstream school, albeit 'country' mainstream school all of a sudden feels a bit jarring when I look at the gentleness of Poe's Steiner classroom. And as for the magnificent lunchbox, I am so glad that you wrote details of its contents because I was scrambling my mind looking at the picture to work it all out, I thought its not Easter why is there so much egg shaped food and what on earth could they all be?! Then I read :) Glad lunchbox book arrived to you. Good idea to share it. I'm with Nat, you can pack a lunchbox for me any day! Have a lovely week xx

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    1. Oh lovely one, i'm sorry it made you feel that way, how did the first week go? Does he love being back? Glad you liked the lunchbox, would love to see your lunchbox sometime (why did that sound so wrong as I was typing?). Yes there was a stunning about of egg shaped food, i can understand your confusion. I promise to one day pack you a lunchbox, preferably before heading out to Never Never creek together for a gorgeous day of swimming and lazing about. Hope that happens in the not too distant future. xx

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  5. Almond butter wraps? If we could send nuts to school I would be dancing the happy dance at the school gates. I keep meaning to ask if cashews are allowed since they're not a nut.

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    1. Yes, well it makes me feel pretty happy and makes supplying protein at lunchtime a lot easier. You should check out what their cashew policy is. xx

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thank you, thank you for sharing your words, thoughts, feelings. xx