3 weeks, four countries, 3 schools...

Welcome to our life. This is us, we travel a lot, we believe in challenge to expand the mind and we try to apply this to our family all the time. That is not to say I was not worried because on the one hand I want to show Julian life and the world on the other hand I want him to have stability.

So week 1, school in France. Not only was this the first time he was going to an organized school, it was the first time away from home for the day and boy did it show. He was worried, in his mind school was orphanage and I think he was convinced this is where he was going, back to school waiting for a new mommy and daddy.  I was so stressed the whole day, worried if he’s doing ok and if he’s managing to understand the language ..oh yes did I mention this was in French J When I went to pick him up, he seemed surprised but so happy. On the way home he pointed at me and said: This is still my mommy!!! It was hard not to burst out crying. The rest of the week went great. He went horse riding, swimming and after a few days started to integrate and played with everyone else. He was also the center of attention all the time, a favorite with all the girls (so I’ve been told) everyone wanted to get to know him since he’s the only non-Caucasian child in the village.

Week 2 summer camp in London. By now Julian is excited when we mention the word school although he always has a hard time letting go when we get there. London was fun and in English but he did pinch another child (twice) and they make a big deal out of that in London. We explained that he shouldn’t do it over and over again. He had a good time though overall and was happy to go.

Weekend after the summer camp in London Julian went on holiday to my sister. Again a first time experience which had lots of practice beforehand. One sleepover at my sisters with mommy, a second one with mommy but my sister putting him to bed whilst I was out and the third time he stayed there all alone. He had a blast of course! He loves his nieces and nephews and his aunty so it was a good experience.

Week 4 Julian was due to go to the summer club in Monaco but an ear infection got in the way so he only went two days to the summer club. The first day he played well with everyone but did not listen at all to the teacher. The second day I went to pick him up he dragged me to his teacher and class mates and shouted: Look!!!! This is my mommy!! The teacher said yes you have a beautiful mommy. Ok so that is not the natural thing to say to someone so my guess is he’d been going around all day saying I have a beautiful mommy. What impressed me is that he then said: Goodbye everybody. We also met a little girl on the way home who was in his class and he waved at her and said Au revoir... so sweet J

He’s making great progress with his social integration, I take him to play grounds all the time and he’s a lot calmer now and also more curious about the other children and tries to play with them. Today he also said to me after school: Mommy I no pinched everybody at school today. He still hasn’t figured out the word nobodyJ  So yes all in all things are going great, we still have melt downs and he is still testing all the time how far he can go but this is not because he’s adopted it’s because he’s a five year old boy J