Allie va a l'ecole!

That's right, our wee Allie is now part of the 'school machine'. Yesterday afternoon we hiked up the hill to some portacabins (quite nice all things considered. Our French teacher told us they were a temporary measure when she was in school) and waited for the teacher to appear at the door. There are 13 children in his class (mostly boys!) and I recognised a few of them (and their mothers) from around the village. The teacher is very confidant and has the reputation of making children do her will without raising her voice. That is the opposite of my experience at home ;) She brought us all in, tinkled some wind chimes and told the children to cross their arms and be quiet. They did it! The parents sat in a circle while the children played and the teacher explained the ins and outs of the school. I understood mooooost of it... i think. I suppose time will tell. There seemed to be a lot about birthday etiquette! She said a few times to the children that they would be kiss their parents goodbye and we would leave soon. When the time came, Allie seemed quite composed if a little nervous, and only one boy clung to his mum. I then went on to a "Pedibus" meeting. This is a fab Swiss thing for walking children to school. Children gather at the designated points with their parents, then a 'conductrice' leads them to school while they hold onto a rope. Parents take turns being the conducteur(trice). This is only for the 4 and 5 year olds, which is nice as I don't think I'm quite ready to handle children misbehaving in French. All the children (even if they don't Pedibus) are given reflective vest thingies for walking to school. Allie's second day was today and he was very happy to go: we made sure we explained that he would have to go every day.


Toby has been getting acquainted with the creche, and for a while wasn't enjoying it. Allie went with him on his last day to show him the ropes. We had made a cake in honour of Allie's last day and now Toby always asks if there will be cake....

He told Walter today that he had "a little bit of fun, but not so much". Things are looking up!