Since dropping off from school last year in July Leila enjoyed very much staying at home with Coline and I. I did not attempt any form of homeschooling, but of course encouraged her learning whenever she asked for it. When I asked her whether she would like to go back to school she used to say no, maybe perhaps when she turned five.
One day last April, her friend Anita was out of town and Leila was desperate to play with someone her age. So, we set out to visit a school we did not know yet but only had heard good things of. It was not love at first sight, but we did not dislike it. Leila agreed to start school in June. And then we both thought about how enjoyable it would be to hold her birthday party at school and how much better it would be if she had friends there already. And so she decided she would start school at the beginning of the following month, in May, so that she was sure to have friends at her birthday. And friends she does have there. She has been loving school (and homework) since the first day. Unlike last year at her previous school, getting ready to go to school is easy and ... she even sometimes tells us some of the stuff that happened during the day!
Let's go back to the birthday story. For weeks Leila and I prepared for the party with the aim to follow local rites and customs in our own creative way. Leila drew and we wrote together the invitation, I sew and embroidered party bags with her help, for which she wrote an individual thank you card for each one of her 19 classmates. On the occasion she learnt how to write Obrigada! short of being good at saying it loud. And then I baked and baked some more, pao de queijo, bala delicia and cupcakes for twenty, and regretted getting myself into this mess. But it was worth it!
School gave us permission to have a picnic party on the playground and I was most happy not to have to sit in a tiny classroom with such a large set of overexcited children, which they were. We sat outside in the soothing late afternoon winter sun and that was good.
After quenching their thirst and hunger (grape juice, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and above all plain ripe strawberries were a complete hit) we lighted five pink candles on five beetroot and strawberry cupcakes (why did I chose that particular recipe? well, because the dough was made during my french class at the Alliance francaise and I thought it was fun to play with beetroot for color - given that I made an oath not to use synthetic food coloring - and the cupcakes were used as a platform for the candles because they actually do taste a lot more like beetroot than the author of the recipe announced!). We sang "Parabens" (happy birthday) and signed it (the teacher, who is a also a sign language instructor in the mornings taught the class how to sign it). We then made a round and fulfilled Leila's birthday wish to sing all together a silly song that involves clapping on each other's legs and making monkey gestures. After that they just had a ball playing on the rusted old toys of that playground that the school hopes to change for new ones soon. Coline who is currently torn between wanting to stay in that school so that she can play on that playground and not wanting to let go of my leg played away from the party the whole time even though she was keeping an eye on us and on her daddy from a distance.
Leila was all smiles for the whole day. And the party continued at home with her and our friends and so many presents that two days later she has not finished yet finding out what they all are.
Lately we have noticed how much Leila has changed since we arrived in Brazil. Our first year or so here was not at all easy. Now Leila is mostly cheerful and enthusiastic, she loves staying home to play with Coline and also likes going out when we do. She enjoys any type of creative activities that I start, tries hard when it is difficult and complains loud when failure and frustration come. She is fun, she gives strong hugs, she says she understands when I only allow one sweet per day, and she is keen to give the barbie dolls that she received on her birthday because it will make another little girl happy to get one, and I understand that she wants to make me feel good too when she says so. I do not shout at her anymore, I am thankful my anger went away, I just simply love her, I love living with her.
I owe a big and loud thank you to my friend Francesca for setting up the party in the park and cleaning the dishes while I was icing a cake, in particular since butter cream is not easy to rinse off in cold water. And another big thank you to Michelle for giving us sweet that went into the party bags. Thank you my friends!
