Preschool Week 2

It has been a shocking week with the Victorian bushfires, words cannot express how tragic the situation is. You know those morbid discussions you have when you're a teenager about how you want to die and how you definitely *don't* want to die? I distinctly remember everyone bar one person saying they didn't want to burn to death one night. If I believed in God I guess I'd pray but then again if I believed in God I'd wonder what the point of it all is.

The weekend just gone wasn't half as hot as we thought it was going to be. We spent a lot of time on Sunday morning doing some in-depth craft activities. In the foreground of this b&w photo you can see how Harriet made a boat with sailors out of some coloured matchsticks and the top of an egg carton. James made the frame of a house, and I made a frog with sticking out tongue from a cherry tomato punnet. We were AWESOME! Well, for people who are quite seriously artistically challenged, we were all awesome in our own eyes anyway.


Week Two for preschool. On Monday James took Harriet in on the bus on his way to work, but unfortunately things didn't work out particularly well. Harriet has a classmate whose father just drops off his (always) bawling son into the arms of her teacher and unceremoniously departs. This poor child is left to scream in the arms of a relative stranger - it breaks my heart. Anyway, he happened to be at her table and she was apparently shaken by it but insisted to James that she was ok with him leaving. He left and when I went to pick up Harriet that afternoon I was a bit behind a few other parents through the door. When she didn't see me straight away she started sobbing. Poor sweet child, she ran up and hugged me like there was no tomorrow when I pushed through to the mat where she was. Then her teacher told me that she had been quite upset in the morning and had found it difficult to transition between tasks in the afternoon. It then took her about two hours to get into a solid sleep that night.


The next morning we all went in to drop her off together. I stayed with her for about half an hour in the classroom, waaayyyy after everyone else's parents had left. The teachers were fine with me being in there and when she didn't want to go out to her Japanese lesson that was no problem as well. Such a relief to see a mainstream school that recognises the importance of the child's security and attachment. I left when her teacher (Melissa) was able to say goodbye with Harriet to me and we had a little laugh at the door and Harry was excited about going to show her how she can write an 'M' (their letter of the week). I was worried about her all morning, then received a phone call from Melissa at lunchtime to tell me that she hadn't eaten anything from her lunchbox and she wanted to let me know in case I didn't get a chance to speak to her that afternoon.

When I went to pick her up she seemed fine. I made sure I was first past the post to get in there so she could see me as soon as the door opened, so that was positive. Harry was her usual chatty, discursive self and I organised two playdates for her this week with classmates so that she may connect with other children in her class rather than feeling the need to be attached only to Melissa. Fingers crossed, anyway. She is just so attention hungry! Can you imagine how bad it might be if we actually praised her?!!!

Oh and today she said to me: ""You help me all the time Mama. QUICK, come over here so I can give you a big squeezy hug!" Awwww....