comfortable

Av had a green dot on her white shirt today after school and I pointed it out to her and asked why she had a green dot there. She laughed and said her friend Christine had done it. This is the first I have heard about Christine. I said, "I didn't know you had a Christine in your class." She said, "no mommy (in an annoyed tone) she rides my bus." I asked if she sat by her and Teeann. She said, "no she is big." hehehe I took that to mean she is older. Av said she sits in the back of the bus. I asked how she knew her name and Av said, "bc she told me." I asked if she talks to her and she said yes. I asked what she says to her. Av said, "I say hi Christine when she walks past." I asked what Christine says back and she said, "hi Av-e-ry (she pronounces all the syllables of her name. I HATE it but I guess she is learning phonics. I want her name said Av-ry. Oh well). Of course I asked if Christine was nice to her and she said yes. I asked if she knew names of the other big kids on the bus. She said no. Then she said that she does say hi to lots of kids on the bus though even if she doesn't know their names. Such a whole new world for her that I know nothing about. Hours and hours and hours of her day that I am not part of. What a neat little niche in the world she has started to carve out for herself. She is comfortable and happy. She is very much in a comfort zone. A kindergardener a month in is comfortable in the big new world of a school with 550 kids, a place she knew no one at the start, on a bus riding all over the city seeing places she never saw without her parents and with big kids on it. She is comfortable and that is amazing. She has courage that I can only dream to have.