School and such

Lucas has officially finished his 1st year of school here in France! While it has been a pretty stressful year for him, trying to settle in and learn the language and school rules, in the end, Lucas has done pretty well and I am so proud of his progress! During the last week, we were handed a complete 3 page report from his teacher, marking on milestones and what Lucas is capable of (e.g if he can recognize and name the teachers and caregivers in school, if he can draw shapes, if he can name all primary colors, if he is able to communicate effectively etc). On the last page of the report, his teacher remarked that Lucas has shown tremendous progress especially in the last month and he has successfully progressed to the "moyenne section" (he started at petit, then there is moyenne and grand)

At the school Kermesse (Carnival), his teacher told us she is very happy that Lucas has finally found his bearings and that he is following all rules and regulations, he listens and obeys and he is also eating in school, and trying new foods (but not at home...!) Lucas will eat couscous in school, but when I make it for him, he refuses to touch it! Eliane has also managed to make him try new foods, for example, creme Anglais. She says he likes to pretend he is a little kitten and licks at the spoon! 

We were also very happy to hear that Lucas will not be separated from Eliane next year, and his maitresse and we decided that we will not change schools. The 2 bullies will not be in the same class anymore (one will go to the grand section, the other starts primary school). 

After the bullying incident, I'd been going regularly to school to check him out during playtime and can see him play happily with his girls (Lina, Lou-Ann and Ilona). At home, Lucas has been good, he listens more, he obeys a lot more even though he still tries his luck at pushing the limits. But its obvious that he has grown up and his speech has also improved tremendously! He can now tell us what he ate at the school canteen, for example. And he can ask for things. For example, one morning he woke up and asked me for potato chips! I told him, its too early for potato chips. My little one actually waited about 10 minutes and then told me its not early anymore, and he wanted the chips! 

Every morning Lucas will wake me up with a "good morning mama" and the he proceeds to ask "did you sleep well?" If I answer in the negative, he will repeat the question until I say "yes"... Then he will ask if he can open the volets to let the sun in. After that, he climbs into bed for his kiss and then asks "shall we get up?"

At this age, he wants to be independant, whether it is choosing what he wants to wear or making his own peanut butter sandwich or his chocolate milk every morning. He will climb onto a chair, take a spoon and his cup, wait for me to give him his Nesquik - and he will carefully spoon out 2 spoonfuls of cocoa into his cup. He then proceeds to spoon out my coffee onto my cup and add one sugar :)

Lucas likes to help with the vacuum, he also likes to help me wipe down the garden furniture. His favourite thing to do now is to water the plants and then he ends up getting all wet! He also likes to strip down every morning and go pee in the garden! I have to repeatedly remind him to go to the toilet instead! On the other hand, it seems to be doing my mint and thyme a lot of good as both plants are thriving!

I have been thinking of bringing Lucas to the cinema, and Fred & I tried out a movie at home to see if Lucas will sit through the movie and he did! We all watched "Finding Nemo" together and Lucas was glued to the TV! Other new things that we will do this summer - teach Lucas how to swim and hhow to ride the bicycle!