INEZ GOES TO SCHOOL

To date, Inez has been going to kindy for 3 days. The first day she was sent, she seemed okay and when asked, she answered that school was fine. But when I asked her if she wanted to go to school again the next day, she said, "No."
"Why, Inez, don't you want to go to school?"
No reply.
"What don't you like about school?"
"It's too noisy!"
That was an unexpected answer. Inez never had a problem with noise before. Maybe it's because she's the one creating all that ruckus. However, I asked her a few times that night and the answer was always a firm 'No.'
"What did you learn today?"
"In my book."
She did some Maths equations, colouring and writing practice.
Day2: Mom just told her that she was going to school. There was no fuss. The little girl simply just got ready for school. That second day, I picked her from school and went to meet the principal and was told that my Inez was talkative (that she talked like a grown-up) and appeared okay in class (that she was not weepy or anything). However, she didn't appear to mix or interact well with the other kids her age; she interacted better with adults. She still had yet to make friends. She seemed excited to leave school.
On the way home, in order to encourage her to talk with the other kids, I told her that the teacher liked her very much and thought that she spoke very well, like a big woman and that the teacher wanted her to talk more with the other kids so that they can all talk very well like her. She seemed pleased with the idea of being a teacher's helper.
Day 3: Again went to school without fuss. Upon her return, when asked what she had learned, she replied, "Nothing." Oh dear!
Mimi, Inez's cousin, went for her first day of school on this day and came back very excited. They pretended to be chickens laying eggs. My sister told my mom that when she left school, she said, "Goodbye friends!" My Inez didn't even give school a backward glance.
She still did not seem to enjoy school. So we told her that since she didn't like school, she didn't have to go to school the next day which was 31 Aug. Hah! She actually looked quite pleased.
I found out from her teacher that Inez went to her to inform her that the class was too noisy and she wanted to get away from the noise. So Inez did some colouring and some exercises in the teacher's office for half an hour and the teacher sent her back to join the rest the kids. In Mandarin class, apparently she stayed in for about 10 minutes. Her teacher is still trying to get her to mingle with the other kids and adapt to her new environment.
Well, that will take time. All this while, she has only been in the company of adults and her brother and cousins: Mimi and Naqib. I tried to have playdates for her but she was so shy and she clung to me so hard as if she wanted to go back into my womb. The only one time she was not shy was when my friend, Fatin's son, Enver was even shyer than Inez: he hid behind the chair, he hid under the table, behind his mom that my daughter found it so funny that she lost her shyness. And they played very well together (my Inez and Mika & Fatin's Enver and Abdullah). This however, is a one time occurance.
Another successful playdate was with my friend Hasbe's son Luqman. Luqman is actually Mika's friend. Mika would say, "Luqman is my friend and Naqib is my friend." And whenever he came to play with Mika, Inez would join in and God! they play the silliest things like knocking some blocks off the arm of our sofa. The laughter was infectious, though.
There are several other instances, but they are all mainly one time occurances. We'll just have to give Inez and school a chance. If she does not pick up Mandarin, I guess I'll just have to put her elsewhere.