The Lee Family: Olivia's First Day of School!

Today was Olivia's first day of school at Spanish Schoolhouse. The real first day was last Wednesday, but CK took both girls to visit his parents in Florida Wednesday through Sunday, which turned into Monday night because of a cancelled flight. So, she started today. Sofia and I took her to the "Meet the Teacher" last Tuesday morning and Olivia was a little uncertain of it all. Sofia kept telling her how much fun she had when she went there and saw her two very favorite teachers - Ms. Christina and Ms. Lorena. They both remembered her and gave her a big hug!

Olivia's teacher is Ms. Carolina in Costa Rica, who was not teaching there when Sofia went so I haven't met her before. Sofia loved looking around Olivia's classroom and we found her seat and I showed her where the books and toys are located, but she wasn't interested in roaming too far from me. She kept saying "Please don't leave me, Mommy." and I told her I wouldn't but it still made me sad that she wasn't excited to be there.

On Wednesday morning her first day, I made her lunch and put on her cutest outfit - a blue Spanish Schoolhouse jumper and white collared shirt under, but as soon as I said it was her school uniform she started crying and tried to take her dress off. She wouldn't calm down so I took her outfit off and put on a blue skirt and red Spanish Schoolhouse t-shirt, which she is allowed to wear. They have a uniform or Spanish Schoolhouse t-shirt dress code which I love since it really makes decisions in the morning easier. She started to get upset over the t-shirt once she realized but I calmed her down enough to get moving. I envisioned taking a lot of cute pictures of her with her new backpack and lunch pale and with Sofia, but she had been so upset that her face was puffy and her nose runny, so I figured I'll do it on Monday, which hopefully goes better.

When made it to Olivia's classroom with Sofia telling her the whole time how much she'd love Spanish Schoolhouse and how much fun she would have. When we arrived at Costa Rica, there were three other kids there playing with play dough, so I tried to sit her down next to them and she only wanted to sit on my lap. After about ten minutes of trying to convince her to sit on her own, one of the teachers came over and grabbed her out of my arms. She was really upset and crying but they told me to leave. I was really sad to leave her like that and called Lynn an hour later to check on her. Lynn said she was fine after just a few minutes and she sent me a photo of Olivia playing and she looked very happy.

While Olivia was at school, I decided to take Sofia to the American Girl Doll store for lunch. Although she isn't really into dolls, she loves the store and going to lunch there is really special and fun. We almost didn't get in because we didn't have a reservation, but they finally sat us at the dessert bar where we had lunch. Sofia had the fruit kabobs (the melon was cut into cute shapes) and the mac and cheese. I had a salad and salmon, which was delicious. Sofia also was able to sit with a borrowed American Girl doll who she named Leah. After lunch we had a little extra time so we walked around and looked at all the dolls and accessories and found a mini version of John and Lynn of Santa Barbara's "Fred" which Sofia loved! She played with the bike and bike trailer and wanted the stuffed cow, but ultimately we just looked before returning to pick up Olivia. As we left, we were given an American Girl sticker and we put it in our car so now we have a "power" button that makes us go really fast when we push it. The girls love it!

Just before picking up Olivia, we stopped by the toy store that is in the same building as Spanish Schoolhouse for Sofia to pick out a gift for Olivia. I actually ran into a friend and she and I stood outside the store talking while Sofia went in and looked around. After a few minutes she came out and said "Mom, it will be $30.34" and I gave her my credit card. The clerk actually wrapped the present so I had no idea what Sofia got her little sister! From there, we went to get Olivia. When we arrived at 2pm to pick Olivia up she had a huge smile and said she had a lot of fun! Hopefully she remembers that on Monday morning when I drop her off....

Ready to visit Spanish Schoolhouse for Olivia's first time