unmet expectations

This morning is India’s first day of preschool! The kids are at a new school and there is a summer program, so they start in June. We’ve been working up to this for months, especially in the potty-training department. We’ve talked up preschool quite a bit with India, and she always talks about how she is gonna go to a High School Musical preschool. At first I thought it was funny, but last night I got this sinking feeling that she really thought she was going to attend East Side High along with Gabriella and Troy and the rest of the gang. This was further confirmed this morning when she woke up and said “time for school, time to put on my cheerleading costume!” This ended in a tantrum, and then when we got to school, she seemed clearly disappointed that there was no singing, no dancing, and no Troy Bolton. I go to pick her up in a few minutes and I’m VERY curious to know how it went. Here is a video of her talking about it last night Jafta is also joking about he how will attend a Backyardigans preschool. Based on her behavior this morning, India was not joking.
In Jafta’s classroom, however, I was thrilled to find that there are two other African American boys in his class. Two!! I can’t tell you how rare this is where we live. When we checked him in, Mark and I were looking at each other with goofy grins and raised eyebrows, and as we left, we were both whispering “did you see that? did you see that?” like there had been two celebrities in the room. It’s amazing how a little diversity can brighten your day.