The Second First Day of School

The girl had her second first day of school the same time as the baby, but being the forgotten middle child, she gets a separate posting just for her.

She graduated from Maternal last November at a fun program and ceremony at a the Monica theme park. "Turma da Monica" is a very popular cartoon in Brazil (it reminds me of Family Circus) and has their own mini theme park inside a local mall.

The owner and administrators of the school talked about the success of the year. Below are the owner (can't remember her name), assistant principal - Simone, and principal Carla (also daughter of the owner). The school has classes up to the equivalent of Kindergarten.

Then each class did a few dance performances. The girl is all the way to the right in this picture and although she looks less than enthusiastic, she did much better than the last time she was supposed to dance (festa junina, another post for another day) because she didn't cry, actually moved and looked up every once in a while. Her teacher, Adriana (Tia Dri), is on the left.

Here is the girl actually dancing...

At the end, everyone got on stage and sang Christmas songs.

Then there was a stage show with the characters from Monica. It was quite entertaining.

We were served lunch and the kids were treated to a visit from Santa and a gift.

Then came the fun of the amusement park. Oh, side note on the shirt... it is another children's show "Castelo Ra-Tim-Bum" the latter part which is pronounced "Hah-cheen-boon" and is totally cute when the girl asks if she can wear her "ha-chee-boo" shirt.

The kids really enjoyed the construction site with hard hats and foam bricks

This is a arm powered bicycle ride that she totally loved. Part of the requested costume was lots of colored hair thingies. Instead of lots of little piggy tails she suggested we use all her colored barrettes. I think it turned out great.

So, with last year all done, the girl was counting down the days until she could go back to school again. She actually asked if she could go to school many times during her vacation. But when the day came, she was a little less than energetic.

Her favorite school uniform accessories are her "Moranguinho" socks and black boots. Everyone makes a statement in their own way.

She did a great job posing for the obligatory front door shot.

Not so sure what happened when she got on the bus, but she is certainly entertaining.

And a really good faker. She was happy to return to school. And even found a few friends in her class again from last year. She is one happy little go back to school girl.