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First days for Jake (also belated)

October was a big month for Jake! Jakey started German Kindergarten at the beginning of the month. He was assigned to the Mause Gruppe (Mouse Group) and his teacher gave him a tote bag with his name on it when she came to do her home visit. On his first day we just went for an hour and Amelie and I stayed with him.  The next day he went for an hour solo.  And then we slowly increased his time there each day until he was finally going for the whole morning.  (It took more than two weeks.) He was totally fine to stay right off the bat, but the school has their process and will not be deterred from following it! Jake likes the playground and the Lego room the best. There is an art room, a Kinder gym, a nap time room, a ball pit, play kitchen, grocery store, dollhouse, and even a room with REAL tools to construct projects.  It is a really nice little Kita. (German abbreviation for Kindertagesstatte.) Jake has already made a buddy... who also speaks no German.  He is from Morocco.  In Jake's class alone they have German, English, Arabic, Russian, and French speakers.  The teachers speak only German to them.  As one little boy informed me, "We are in Germany, so you must speak German."  Working on it, dude. Jake also played another season of Bambino soccer.  He was one of the bigger kids this time around, being an older and wiser four year old.  He loves being part of a team, but I think water breaks and chatting with the coach are still his favorite parts of the activity.

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