Friday, April 30, 2004
April 28, 2004

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Escobido:

We are pleased to advise you that Azriel has been accepted into Kindergarten for September, 2004.... !!!!!!!

I'm so anxious, excited... can't find the words to explain the feeling but the last few weeks was kind of hard as I try to put this off my mind. Seeing the letter in our mailbox, I had to open it right away and I am so... still don't have the words. I want to frame this letter!!!!

My baby, my little boy is going to kindergarten!!! ...

Friday, April 16, 2004
Ace's prayer: "Jesus, I love you. Please come in our hearts. And stay in our hearts forever..." ...

Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Holy Ghost School, Tuesday, April 6th, 2004, at 3 p.m. Central Time. (http://www.holyghostschool.ca/) The little boy's been excited about this for so long. The principal, Ted Kowaliszyn, was a little late, taking care of some "emergency" matters at the school yard. The little boy was starting to be bored. Good it wasn't a long wait. The whole time Ted was talking to Ace. Introduced himself, shook hands and asked for a high five. He asked Ace if his name is Azriel John. The little boy said he is Ace. So Ted wrote it down next to his full name and Ace corrected him cause he missed the "c". The principal's pen was running out of ink so he told Ace he'll fix it later. Then the little boy said, with his hands palm up, gesturing towards his mother and father. "This is my family... this is my mom, and this is my dad." This is the first time I met Ted so we shook hands. Dan met him when he submitted our application last March 2nd.

Ted's questions:
Q: What do you like to play?
A: Lego, toys, beyblade

Q: Do you have brothers and sisters?
A: Yes (!)

Q: What are the name of your friends?
A: Alexa, Tiffany, Stephanie

Q: What games do you like to play?
A: Playstation, computer
Ted elaborated, no games with other kids... do you like to race?
A: I like maze!

Q: What do you do at church?
A: Watch movies, read book
Ted: What else? ... you pray? cause here we go to church all the time. So even when you don't go to your saturday or sunday school you can go to church here.

It was just a short list of questions, I don't think I forgot something. After the first few minutes, Ace was starting to look around but still answering Ted's questions. That's why I was concerned he would mention something about that. And quite happy when he said Ace is "average" just like the other kids his age.

Ted continued to talk to Ace asking him what he likes, etc. Then he gave Ace (with dad and I following them) a tour of the school. First their library, then the computer room. Then off to the other building to the gym and then the classroom. (By the way, by this time Ace has gone twice to pee, don't know if he's just interested to see the washrooms or he's anxious in his own way. Thus, by now he's used two washrooms in the school!)

We went up the stairs to the classroom. He was using outdoor voice so Ted had to tell him to use indoor voice. Then asked him the number of kids there are in the school. Ace said "Many!" with both hands up and open wide. Ted told him, that's right, and even there are many, we don't hear any noise cause they are in their classrooms. The classroom for kindergarten is just by the top of the stairs. They even have a computer and they have tons of books.

Next is an evaluation by one of the teachers. Mr. Ircha, or as he said, Maurice, cause we can't remember his last name, met with Ace for about 25-30 minutes. Dan and I peeked a few times and saw both of them talking or Mr. Ircha writing while Ace is talking or nodding his head.

Ted spoke to us, explaining what happens next. If all is well with the evaluation, we can expect a letter in about three weeks time. At the end of June, there will be more information and a schedule for Ace to meet the teacher and meet a few of his classmates. The kindergarten class has 28 kids, divided into two groups. The class is for the whole day, alternating days. So one class goes to school on Monday, the other class on Tuesday, alternating. By Grade 1 they will all be in one class. He said he sees no problem about Ace being accepted. Ace is like the other kids, he is average... Ace... "average"? That is really wonderful news. I had cold feet the whole morning and was so worried that he won't listen or will be hard to talk to. But we are truly amazed that as Ted talks to him, he does respond all the time and only was distracted when he thought that when Ted told the kids (the Grade 2 class is at the computer room) that they should continue with their work in the computers, Ace thought he was going to the work in the computers so he's ready to go off into the class!

I told Ted about Ace being a late talker and he said he noticed how Ace tried to think when he answers Ted's questions. Ted said that he would improve more once he is with the other kids. He explained to us the volunteer program they have. How if we volunteer 20 hours we get $100 off the tuition for the following year. Oh, at the gym he told us they have plans of expanding the gym, connecting the two buildings together, hopefully if all goes well within the next couple of years. I asked him about the ethnic mix and said the school really has a lot of different race, asians, mexican, sikh... (If you look at their newsletter at the website, you'll notice a lot of filipinos)

At the end of the evaluation with Mr. Ircha, we heard Ace by the door and we came in. Mr. Ircha said Ace did really well. He gave us suggestions as to how to help him improve more. Talk about the seasons, build his vocabulary, read picture books with one sentence lines, with big gaps between the words. For now that is the best way to help him with his speech. Not to get him to read the book by the words but by the pictures. Scramble letters and numbers and get him to put in order or to pretend we made a mistake and he gets to fix them. He said a number of small sessions like 5 or 10 minute ones are better than one long session.
Oh, and the "th" in three, etc. The only time you are allowed to stick out your tongue a little is when you say "th". He also suggestion getting Ace fingerprinted and have the ID, something I've been wanting to do for so long... when he asked Ace his favorite food, he said "rice" ... rice? maybe fried rice :) Mr. Ircha said his is perogies... the other day I remembered Dick and Jane and Mr. Ircha told us he too read it as a child...

Dan asked Mr. Ircha about Ace's chance of being accepted. He said he doesn't see any problem with Ace. Ace is very eager to learn. He has no problem relating to other people. He said like with him, he was able to spend 30 minutes with Mr. Ircha even though he has only met him that time. Mr. Ircha said something about Ace's character, can't remember the exact word but something like "he is a really nice kid", smiling and looking at Ace as he said that. It's Ace's character, very friendly and happy.

As we talked to Mr. Ircha, Ace was ready to go to sleep :) ... but was wide awake again when Mr. Ircha gave him a chocolate and a balloon. On the way out we told him we thought he was asleep and he said he is "pretending".

What else? ... I am trying to write this down while it's fresh on my mind... I realized this morning how important this is. Choosing the school. This will be his foundation for the future. Academically, friendships...

I took his picture outside the school. Much like his first picture at Friends Together. Inay even put on him his pre-school tshirt.
I'll send you a copy once it's developed. ...

Monday, April 05, 2004
bukas we go to Holy Ghost school for interview. 3 p.m.

you're so excited about it.

yesterday you played with brent and the big boy from the house at inkster. you guys were so tired.

...