May 7

Goodness, it has been a long day.

Played with Amber and her kiddos. Fun, fun, fun.

We spent a lot of time in the sandbox and on the swings this morning, and I love that as excited as Daisy is about her new sandbox, she is even more excited to share her sandbox with friends. 

Also, I love our friends.

I put the big kids down for naps late, but they fell asleep even later. I had to wake Caleb up at 4:45 so we could leave for an event at his future elementary school, and Daisy woke up not long after. Lily, meanwhile, was awake all afternoon, despite my best efforts to get her to sleep.

I tried desperately to find a way for her to entertain herself so that I could get dinner started, but it didn't work. She needed me to distract her the whole time.

Where's Lily?

Peek-a-boo!

mmm.... yummy wrap...

She was pleased with herself, but I sure wasn't pleased. She finally fell asleep around 4:30.

So that meant that I got her down, got myself dressed, woke up Caleb, comforted a just-woken-and-not-happy-about-it Daisy, greeted my husband at the door, and headed out with Caleb for Popsicles on the Playground.

I love that his school is having pre-school year meet and greets for future kindergartners and their parents. One of the teachers who was there tonight commented on Caleb being "too attached". She noticed that when all the parents stepped inside for a brief presentation, Caleb stopped playing as soon as I left and just stood there.  She tried to play with him and tried to hold his hand and help him, but he wouldn't let her. Basically, she thought that he would only play if I was there to play with him.

But that's not really how it went down. How it really went down was that we got there and Caleb spent the first few minutes watching the kids play and trying to get comfortable with all the chaos. I encouraged him to play and took a tour of the playground with him, pointing out all the cool features. Then we found the popsicles, and he ate one. Then he thought about playing, but was too nervous, so he asked for another popsicle instead. I told him no, and that he should play. Then they called the parents away, and he stood there, unsure what to do. While I was inside, a teacher gave him a second popsicle. When I returned, he explained all this to me. He'd gotten what he wanted, and had time to observe how everything worked, and he was ready to play, so he did.

As we prepare for kindergarten, I'm feeling more and more concerned about Caleb's behavior and personality quirks. I don't think his problem is that he's too attached to me; I think he's slow to warm and needs some time to check things out before he's comfortable engaging. He's anxious and nervous in new situations and with new people, and is still learning how to cope with that. 

I hope he will get a teacher who understands his temperament and is patient with him as he feels things out.

I hope his behavior is within the realm of normal, and doesn't indicate something out of the ordinary.

I hope I haven't already damaged him with my own pushiness and perfectionism. 

I hope he can figure out how to function so that he doesn't miss out on things he would really enjoy.

I know he isn't like most other kids his age, but I hope he's still normal.

I think I need to be praying more for this sweet boy of mine. I covet any prayers any of you have to offer for him, too.