Cute little uniform
Emma started school again at the end of February. She had been speaking quite a bit of Portuguese over the summer break (Dec-Feb), but her language has just exploded since she started spending more time with kids her age. A few days after she started school, she came home and said very matter of factly, "Mae, voce nao precisa falar mais in ingles. . . pode falar in portugues comigo." Translation = "Mom, you don't need to talk in English anymore. . . you can talk in Portuguese with me." Seriously?? I'm trying more and more to talk to her only in Portuguese. She actually seems to prefer it. I'm guessing it has a little to do with the fact that everyone around here speaks "normally" and I'm the one who's different! I'm so happy she's so comfortable with her friends and teachers and pretty much everyone else in this country!!
She's informed me that her favorite day during the week is music day because they get to play different instruments and there's music on all the time. Yesterday, when I picked her up, she was dancing around with the biggest smile on her face. Her teacher said she had been dancing pretty much the entire time she had been at school!!
She loves to play in the sand as long as she doesn't get too dirty. She loves picking out the tiny rocks from the sand and she guards her pedrinhas with her life!
Emma's teachers are amazing! They are both learning English and want so badly to be able to communicate in her own language, even though Emma's fine without it. When they do a project, they ask Emma what the English name is for something and she shares it with the class. The Brazilians value English so much and many of Emma's classmates have quite a vocabulary already. I didn't even know what a foreign language was when I was almost four!!
I'm so thankful for this experience. There have been so many days when I wondered if Emma was going to be OK and if she'd have problems with fitting in. I no longer worry or wonder. She's had an amazing transition into life here!! School has been a wonderful place for her to grow and learn and develop friendships. It's also been a great place for her mama to grow and learn and develop friendships! Yay!
