First Day at Kindy... A Big Day

Well - no sooner did L-kun get back to Adelaide, have his 4th birthday, and then have another birthday (he insisted on having a second the following day) - then he was ready for the next big adventure. Kindergarten! Actually, he's only on pre-entry now, which equates to 1x2 hour session per week, but for us it's a big transition. You see, T-chan's been looking after L-kun pretty well everyday for the last four years - and been doing a good job (under sometimes difficult circumstances, as I'm sure every stay-at-home mum knows all to well)... so this is just a big a day for her as it is for L-kun.

Actually, even I think when I see some of these photos how he looks older than just 4 years old... and it makes me realise just how quickly he'll go from small child to big child to young man in the blink of an eye.

And of course, he's sporting some international fashion... his backpack comes from Skip Hop, a US-based company. Even though these were bought in Japan, you can also now purchase them locally in Australia (David Jones department store stocks them). The dog one was a favourite of L-kun. Actually, we're starting to worry about the things that he wears and brings with him - something we didn't need to before. The important thing is food-wise: only water, no processed foods, and no nuts. Thankfully at least, we know that L-kun doesn't have a nut allergy... something that is a real concern these days (but I'm sure was more or less unheard of in my parents day).

We didn't take any photo's at the Kindy (nowadays parents get a little worried about that sort of thing), but when T-chan met L-kun at the end he was all smiles and the first thing he said was "tanoshikatta", I had fun. In fact he was bubbling with excitement all day, and was telling Daddy about the songs they sang and the dance they did.

Apparently he was very chatty - though we don't know if he was speaking much Japanese or not. His Japanese was fantastic coming back from Japan, but his English had definitely degraded noticeably...however in the last week it's picked up again quickly. Children are definitely like sponges at that age... but that also means that now is the time we'll start to see his behaviour dictated more and more by his peers, and less and less by us.

Our little man is growing up.