Making Friends

Last week Aaron came home and said something about Kendall and David, two of the other students in his class.

All of a sudden my heart skipped a beat!

I got very excited to hear about these other children at school.  There wasn't much to say.  Being three and a half doesn't lead to deep conversations about life goals or even plans for the weekend.  Usually conversations are about liking someone's shoes or someone sneezing.  That's a pretty exciting day for someone who is just over 3 feet tall.  But it was exciting for me to see that there was an awareness of the other children at school even after school was done and we were home.

The next day during pick-up I watched the children start to say goodbye to each other.  Some of the kids yelled "Goodbye Aaron and Jeff!!!" as my boys waved goodbye or responded with, "Goodbye!  See you next year."

We are still working on time.

Today Aaron stayed home from school and I dropped Jeff off by himself.  I think both Jeff and I were a little freaked out.  He seemed sad and maybe a little scared.  The idea of a cupcake for one of the assistant teacher's birthday's perked him up, but I still worried how he would do without his social butterfly brother by his side.

As I left the classroom I saw the lead teacher in the hall waiting to pick up some other kids from the school bus.  I let her know I thought Jeff might be a little overwhelmed today being at school without his brother and she told me that she loves watching the two of them because there is an interesting dynamic.  She said they often do their own thing and choose different activities in the classroom.  Sometimes they wind up together but that's because they want to do that activity, not because they have to be with each other.  On the playground, however, is when they are together all the time.  They play together.  The teacher said that was opposite of most kids who know each other because the playground is less verbal and kids who are shy can play with a stranger without talking.  Regardless of the reason, I loved to hear that the boys have time together and time apart in school.

Because one of my boys demands so much attention all the time *cough cough Aaron cough cough* I'm excited to hear how Jeff does today in school on his own.  I hope the teacher has some time to give me an update.

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I heard what happened at school today.  Jeff was happy when I picked him up.  I asked the teacher how it went and this is what she said...

"Jeff was fine today.  No tears.  The only time he was a little bit sad was during circle time.  I said there were only 11 students here and I asked who was missing.  Jeff teared up a little and said, 'My brother is home sick.'  He then got Aaron's name tag and put it in his circle time spot so he could pretend Aaron was there."

OK...so either the teacher makes up amazing stories or Derek and I are raising boys who, although they fight constantly, really care for each other.  I'm going to go with the latter and start dusting off a shelf for our "Parents of the Year" trophy.