School/Life Begins in Brooklyn

Appearances aside, Camille was ebullient on her first day of school. She's going to the Brooklyn Waldorf School one day a week for 2 hours with me in tow, so it's not really a major milestone, more of a ceremonial one. Anyway, I dressed her up like the real thing, and on a perfectly cool, cloudy September day we set off for school.


Here's the real picture, once I requited the baby, whose absence caused all the fuss.


The class meets in the most charming, doll-house of a garden apartment near Fort Green park. There's a big sunny room full of wooden toys, hand knit baby dolls, eight or so toddlers and like minded parents.


Camille was busy in the kitchen most of the morning, until it was time to wash hands and make bread. I mean really make bread, all the kids had a little dough to work, then we put it all in a pan and the teacher took it to the oven. The rest of the morning we played with the unbelievable smell of the baking bread filling us all with well-being. We ate the warm bread for snack with sliced apples and almond butter, and it was all very sublime and idyllic.


Here she is exploring the hallway and the front door, just before snack.



Also that week, one of Remi's closest, oldest friends (also a best man at our wedding, Seb) came to visit from Paris.


Seb's a tough guy, actually once while we were walking someone (jokingly?) asked if he was our bodyguard.


But don't let him fool you, he was a big softie with Camille who absolutely adored him.



Here Remi and Camille are practicing their grimaces. Camille is actually getting pretty good at her "mean face" and Remi, well, he's like the guru of grimaces.



I'll leave you with some more sweet first-day pictures. I am in love with this little ensemble, a gift from France. The buttons on her white shirt are wood, a little canary, umbrella and flower, and all the details on the jumper are leather. I'm sure that in 20 years we'll all cringe when we look at these, but for now, c'est trop jolie!