First Days of School

Well I meant to update on Monday evening on how things went but I plead life.

So far so good. Camille hopped into the van Monday afternoon, acting a bit grumpy but then she yelled "School is AWESOME!" She told us she played with a friend J, which we weren't sure how to take. Camille has a habit of lying about her friends as in having them when she doesn't. But we received confirmation from J's mom that they had played. She didn't talk much about what else was going on but we knew she had played (something called "Unicorn Attack" according to her). She hasn't been acting stressed at home like she did last year. I'm hopeful that it's going to be a good year (her teacher really responds well to her and even picks up her anxiety cues! Hurray).

Yesterday afternoon, she was bit quieter. She didn't seem like she wanted to talk, and I didn't push it. Later she said she claimed to have a run in with a boy she knows (but again who knows), and she seemed a little more hesitant to talk about friends. She did mention becoming friends with a boy whose names she doesn't know. When I walked in with her today, she wasn't playing with her friend J, but was playing blocks with a boy. She wandered around a bit but seemed happy and perky.

Umberto has also settled in wonderfully. The last few days he's been excited about what's going on at school (he's a gossip like his mom so I get to hear all the news amongst the kids). He's also talked more about what he's doing academically than we did last year. He seems excited about it and confident. He's quite proud to be a "big" third grader and this seems to have given him a bit of independence.

Of course today was kind of a catalyst day for him as well. When I went to say good bye, he had his head on his desk, looking miserable. He told me the morning work was too hard. I resisted the urge to kneel down and help him (not that Piper would have let me). Instead, I whispered 'I know you can do this if you try." And left. It was very hard to do but I know that he needs me to back off and let him work through this stuff. He's too used to me sweeping in and rescuing him. Sometimes I think we need to learn to rescue ourselves. It doesn't mean that I'll never help him but I need to find a balance between letting him work it out on his own, and being there for him when he needs me.

Basically today was tough. I think the beasties are tired, and ready for the weekend. They've had an extra long summer vacation. Hopefully a weekend of refueling will inspire them to keep up the great momentum they've developed.