Today Stone asked me "do prayers work at school?" He told me he goes into the bathroom to pray, but that they don't work. I asked what he prayed for, and he said "that you will come get me RIGHT THAT MOMENT." So we tackled the issue that's even tricky for adults: praying that God will help us be brave and strong and smart and peaceful as we go through the hard stuff - not that he will take the hard stuff away. This was not the news Stone wanted to hear, but he said the night-time prayer and changed his petition from "Please make me not go to school" to "Please make my brain learn the language, because I really REALLY need to understand everybody."
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| I picked him up from school "extra EXTRA early" at the beginning of recess time (11:00). (We discovered there is a girl in his class who speaks English, and his teacher kindly situated her next to him. We'll see if that helps!) We decided to go on a Mommy-Stoney exploring walk until girl-pick-up at 2:00. Here we are at a statue of four 17th-Century Sevillano Artists. We learned about each one. |
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| We walked around a real castle wall |
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| And through a more modern, commercial part of the city, passing a McDonald's, a Burger King, a Dunkin' Donuts, and two Starbucks! And this colorful park |
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Next we crossed the river - I had wanted to do that for awhile and he humored me. As we crossed we noticed a huge tower, which we discovered was the Torre de Oro (golden tower), and inside there was a boat museum for 3 Euros! Stone was so excited to finally find real cannon balls. Just now I looked up the Torre de Oro and this is what I found on Wikipedia:
Constructed in the first third of the 13th century, the tower served as a prison during the Middle Ages and as a secure enclosure for the protection of precious metals periodically brought by the fleet of the Indies, another possible origin for the tower's name. |
We climbed to the top of the tower and I loved Stone's comment about the view
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| After a long time in the boat museum (I couldn't believe his attention span in there! He kept exclaiming things like "Get a load of this baby!!" about the ship replicas), we headed back to the school. This is the entrance of the Cathedral of Seville, which we get to walk past on the way |
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| If I take my eyes off him for a second (like chatting with a mom outside the school) I find him high up in a tree or on any climbable surface |
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| After Siesta, Lindsay, Lucy and I caught a bus to try out dance class! I discovered I only had a 50 Euro bill so we had to break it at the store... and the most convenient thing to grab as we rushed to the bus stop was a box of 3 Magnum bars. :) We missed our bus anyway and were late to dance class, but that was ok |
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| Lucy had a Ballet class with Anna; Lindsay had a Flamenco class with Naomi (which ended up being canceled so they went to their house to do homework and hang out). I'm going to have Lucy post about the Ballet class because it was quite an event and the jury is out on whether she'll be going back. I also want to post about our observations of typical Spanish ways of adults relating to children... and how we choose to deal with those cultural differences. I'll have Lucy post tomorrow |
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| Naomi gave Lindsay a fan!! Women use these all the time here, and this one is so beautiful and so special. How did she know purple is Lindsay's favorite color? |
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And Anna gave Lucy a beautiful fan too. As we left their house Lucy said "Can Anna move in with us?"
I feel so grateful yet again for family and friends - I have received so many expressions of love and support. We are so blessed, and I am trying to take the advice I am giving the kids and stay optimistic and do the best with what we're given as I help Stone adjust! My overly-empathetic nature tends to truly suffer with those who suffer, so I have been taking Stone's struggle really hard. I feel better when I remember to take the long view of his development, knowing that he is going to be just fine!
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