Emily now goes to a daycare center owned by a local chain as we moved to a new town. Therefore she had to learn English. Some parents told us don’t worry since a toddler’s brain works like a sponge, sucking new stuff right in. She will pick up English in no time. Of course we have anticipated that she would have some tough time in the first several weeks, and we tried to get in her shoes to think about all the challenges she needs to cope with, a new school, new teachers, new friends and a new language. We sat down with her and talked about all the difficulties she will be facing. Last, we told her, Emily, you might feel very sad and lonely for a while, but don’t worry, mommy and daddy will be there for you. She nodded.

First day, I dropped her off and stayed with her for a half hour. When she started playing and got comfortable, I waved goodbye to her. I picked her up around 6:00PM and the teacher said everything went very well and she had a good time. We were all surprised. Next day, her father dropped her off and called me, Emily cried and grabbed my leg, begging me not to leave her. I was concerned and called her teacher right away. She said Emily was sad and is reading a book now. I asked if I can talk to her. The teacher called her name and said mommy is on the phone. Through the phone, I clearly heard she cried out loudly “mama” and running towards me. She sobbed, saying, mama, daddy left me here, please pick me up. I don’t want to stay here. Her words were broke up by her uncontrollable blubber. At that moment, as a mom, I really didn’t know what to say to her, and I couldn’t stop my tears.

I picked her up early that afternoon as I promised. Her eyes were puffy. For the next two weeks, every morning was a struggle to drop her off. Sometime she came home and asked me, “mama, why my friends don’t want to play with me? I waved goodbye to them and why didn’t they wave back?” Her feelings were hurt. She felt unsecured and didn’t want to social anymore. She would hide behind me all the time when we were out. Her father worried, how to protect her sensitive heart? I said, maybe she has to figure this out herself, this way she can grow up and learns to deal with frustrations.

I believe Emily is a strong girl, or I hope she will be. We still encourage her to greet her friends and teachers. We need to be patient. This month she transferred to a bigger class. Everything changed. She loves to go to school every day. She rushes into her teacher’s arm in the morning. She understands most of the words in school and follows orders through. She starts talking to her friends, and every day she mentions a new name to me.

For all the words she learnt in English, she won’t say it in Chinese. She says “Excuse me!” whenever she wants to pass me and she asks me to do the same. She says hello to our neighbors and even strangers.

Here are some recent interesting dialogues of hers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

厕所的卷纸滚了一地。我问，Emily, 是你干的坏事吗？

不是。。。。。是我昨天干的。

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Emily第一天坐school bus. 我问她：今天坐school bus高兴吗？

恩，school bus慢吞吞的走。我和Jada坐在一起。

那你们聊天了么？

恩，我跟她说，我昨天去了水族馆了。

真的啊？

(兴奋) 对阿！

那Jada说什么？

(失落) 她在看外面的风景。

注：Jada是Emily新幼儿园唯一能说中文的小朋友。

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

妈妈，你说我长大了么？

长大了，你现在是大姑娘了。

那我能帮你做事了么？

能啊！

我能帮你做饭么？

可以啊！

不行，我会烫伤的。我可以帮妈妈洗衣服，好吗？

好的。

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

妈妈，我长大了吗？

长大了啊。你现在是大姑娘了。

没有，我还很小呢。

那你长大了要做什么呢？

我要去上班，要送你去上学！

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

妈妈，我乖么？

很乖！

那你给我买xxx ./ 那你给我吃xxx.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

妈妈，你今天给我带苹果汁去学校吧。

不行。

为什么不行？

你喝了瓶果汁就不好好吃午饭了。

可是别的小朋友都带啊。Andrew的妈妈就给他带了。

Andrew的妈妈是Andrew的妈妈。Emily的妈妈说不能带。

(自语)Andrew的妈妈就给他带了。。。

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------