We were running late getting to school this morning. We were late getting out of the house, and then, with lots of new, fresh snow on the ground, B wanted to take his time, walking in the untouched patches and climbing on the piles of plowed and shovelled snow. Even though I generally hate to be late, I let him take his time. It’s the middle of February, and who knows how many more snowy mornings we’ll have this year where we can play in the snow on the way to school? So, we were a bit late — just a few minutes, nothing major.
The kindergartens here serve breakfast to the students, and that’s one of the first things the kids do upon their arrival to school each morning. They take turns, 3-4 kids from each class go to “essen” at a time. Since we were late, and B wanted to eat (for him, it’s really just a snack, since we have breakfast at home), as soon as I got him into his classroom, he turned around and headed back out to eat. It was a nice surprise to see him in the hallway as I was checking the notice board for any new information. And then, I got to watch him have his snack.
It’s the first time I’ve been able to observe him eating at school. He usually does it after I’ve gone. I was amazed to see how well he’s doing, how well he’s adjusted, and what a great job he does of taking care of himself. He found a spot, sat down, and promptly dropped his spoon. No problem — he got up, took it to the dirty dish area, got another one, and sat back down. One of the teachers came by to serve him tea, and he very politely (and in German) said that he preferred water. Then another teacher came by to serve him some bread, which he took, and thanked her for. Then, as he was all settled in and happily starting his snack, I left and headed home. But I was so impressed by my guy. It was so great to see him behaving so well, being so polite and still making sure he got what he wanted. And to see him do it all, in German, like it was no big deal, was a very big deal to me. I’m so happy to have been able to witness a little moment like this, and to see how well he’s doing.