1st Day Of School!

Its amazing how quickly they grow up... Yup, just 5 weeks ago, it seems like our newest little one was just placed into our loving arms, and now... all grown up and off to school!

Oh wait... it WAS just five weeks ago.

And yes, she is off to school already!

Ping was so very excited to goto school like her brothers and sister! However, the Ontario School Board was a little less excited. Yes, for this little bundle of joy and wonder from our family could infact be a hot bed for germs, disease and all around general Death to the poor innocent little Canadian Children.

Yes sir, while our bundle of joy was sitting on the front step, backpack in hand, coat on lap waiting to goto school, the school board was rejecting her admittance because they were not happy with her Vaccination shots.

Now, I don't want to turn this blog into a hot bed for Vaccination VS non-Vaccination type flame wars, but I would like to point out this little fact...

Fact: We were allowed to send our biological children to school without Vaccinations.
Fact: We were NOT allowed to send our adopted child to school without Vaccinations.

So after a couple more trips downtown to the family support center for the Ottawa/Carleton School Board, I finally had a fax in my hands, stating which Vacc's we still needed to get for Ping so she could attend school. Then it was a mad dash off to the doctors, all the while, our poor daughter trying to figure out why she isn't in school yet (the school had said she could start that week).

Thank God for co-workers who speak Mandarin and were willing to call home and talk to Ping and try to explain all of this.

Then, that Friday (this all started on Monday), Ping suited up and got to go to School to check out the class, meet the teacher and kids.

Pings Cubby Hole

Ping ready for school

Well this morning, Monday, the 11th of January 2010 - Ping finally got to goto school! :-)

According to the teacher, there were a few tears when Ma ma left, but they subsided and she had a "good first day", she played House with some other children. All the children were "Hi Ping" and very curious about her.

For Pings part, she greeted everyone with her "Hey Baby!". :-) I guess she picked that up from me as I tend to call her Baby alot, and often greet her with Hey Baby. When one of my co-workers Weiquing was on the phone trying to describe the school routine, she often had to stifle a laugh as Ping kept referring to her as "hey baby".

At the end of the day, Ma ma came and did pick her and the other kids up. She came out with big smiles, and the other children sent her home with a chours of "Bye bye Ping!"s.

So all in all, my wife was a wreck today. Not as bad as when some of our other children went to school for the 1st time. When our 1st born went to school, I don't think my wife slept for the month proceeding the big day, nor the following 3 months. :-)

By the 2nd child, it was maybe the 2 or 3 days before, and maybe a week after.

For the 3rd child, it was like, that morning she was worried, and maybe the next day.

But for Ping, its different.

Its different for many reasons... at first blush, you might assume it was just because it was child number 4 off to school, and quite frankly, she could come home with a "I Luv Mom" tattoo and some interesting body peircings and we probably would not notice...
... but thats not it.

Dont get me wrong, she may have a tattoo and I just havent found it yet.

But this feeling is more of a "considering what she has been through by the tender age of 4, I don't think that Juniour Kindergarden is gonna be that big a deal".

But at the end of the day, your baby is still leaving you, its still hard... my wife still didn't do nothing but cuddle with her the whole morning before she left, and I didn't do anything but cuddle with her when she came back.

Maybe this was a "nothing" event for her, but I think it was something for us... :-)