Monday, February 28, 2011

Cuddle power

Alex has had asthma over the last few nights, and for the first couple of nights before the medication kicked in, he coughed all night, keeping any of us from getting much rest. There wasn't much I could do so I just lay next to him to comfort him

The next day, he turned to me out of the blue and said, "Mum, when you cuddled me in the night, it felt like a warm sheet of cotton wool."

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Junior barrister-in-training

Alex was originally supposed to be going off to kindergarten this year, but it didn't quite work out that way. The short story is - the orientation provoked an extreme reaction that resulted in our doing an about-face and re-enrolling him in pre-school for another year.

In my mind, he was ready for school. Socially, he gravitated towards kids who were slightly older rather than younger than him, and fit in well with this group. Academically, he would be fine. The pre-school thought so too. But, when it came to the orientation, he was completely emotionally overwhelmed by the whole experience. Afterwards, we discussed our options.

The short version went like this:

Alex: My friend has his birthday in March like me and he is turning 5 and he is going back to pre-school. So why can't I go back to pre-school too?

Me: His parents have decided to send him back to pre-school, and we've decided that you are ready for big school {explains reasons why}.

Alex: How many other 4 year old boys will there be at my school?

Me: You'll be the only 4 year old boy, but you'll turn 5 soon after school starts.

Alex: Well I think 5 days a week is too many for a 4 year old. I don't want to be the only 4 year old guy. I'll go when I'm 5 turning 6 not 4 turning 5.

Me: {after quite a bit more debate} OK.

Fast forward to this week, and all is going well. Alex is confident in our decision to continue with pre-school and not lamenting the fact that he sees other kids rocking up for school across the road from our house.

After a lovely trip to the park wherein Alex helped and encouraged Maya a great deal, I thanked and congratulated him on the care he had shown her.

Alex: So who was right?

Me: What do you mean?

Alex: Well, if I had gone to school this year, 5 days a week, we wouldn't have had this nice day would we? I thought I shouldn't go, and you thought I should. So who was right?

Me: Well I still think you would have been ok, Alex, but we'll never know, and yes, you were right that you are doing well now.

Alex: So, was I right? And you were wrong.

Me: {a bit more to-ing and fro-ing before finally} OK. You were right.

Now to work on softening this obession with right-and-wrong, black-and-white thinking...plenty of time for the barrister training!