The Rentrée (Back-to-School)

I just wanted to write a quick post about Izzy's first day at proper school, after three long years of nursery. Everything is on the same site, so the only thing that has changed for her is her classroom and her teacher. But also this year, no more toys in the classroom - just books! Oh, and a green chalkboard - I didn't even know what it was! We didn't even have chalkboards when I was at school all those years ago; we had whiteboards and overhead projectors!

I was very nervous about the first day of school as it would be my first encounter with all the school mummies. Fortunately, Izzy, along with five of her colleagues, has been put in a class with children three years older than her and right at the end of the line of classrooms, so in fact I was only confronted with a couple of mummies that I knew, and everything passed 'normally'.

As we all hung around outside Izzy's new classroom waiting for the bell to ring, my eyes kept wandering across the playground, to the nursery classroom, where I should have been with William, getting him settled into his new school environment. I am convinced I would have been able to leave him without him crying for me, like Izzy did for her first few days at nursery. He was so sociable and found absolute joy in everything around him; people, objects, even sunlight streaming through the leaves of trees mesmerised him... I look up sometimes at the sun's rays filtering through the trees' leaves and think of him. There's an ethereal edge to this, I feel, with almost religious connotations, like he felt drawn towards the 'skies' or the 'light'.

After I'd left Izzy at school, my deliberately busy first day on my own started. First Soumaya came for coffee and we looked through some photos of William as well as the birthing videos of both children. Lovely.

After Soumaya left, I did some quick admin, then my old Uni friend Ali called from Germany and we had a lovely long chat. Before I knew it, I had to leave to go to Pézenas where I spent a bit of time in a photographic shop printing out photos to take with me on the bereavement weekend, as well as some lovely family ones. I got a big print done of the photo below for a lovely mix of frames that I have on the wall in the hall.

Then I took myself off to the old centre of Pézenas to treat my friend Bassie to lunch - lovely gambas and smoked salmon salad at the Vieux Coq on Place Gambetta. Lovely company too! So far so occupied! Thanks for looking after KiddieKitRentals while I was gone last time Bassie!

Next I managed a quick top-up supermarket shop, followed by a nip to another shop to buy a small photo album for my photos. By the time I got home and unloaded the shopping, it was time to go and pick Izzy up from school! Hooray!  A whole day filled up. Just the rest of my life to go.

Izzy loved her first day at school and was disappointed that there was no school today! (No school on Wednesdays in France.)

Today we are off to enrol her in tennis lessons, then to the psychiatrist's (today I am going to take her with me and she can draw in the waiting room), then shoppping for new clothes for school, home, lunch and then we are baking cupcakes this afternoon. Hopefully we can fill today and that will be one more day done...