So last Thursday when I picked him up and his teacher told
me next week (this past week) they were going to celebrate Dr. Suess’ birthday
with a week full of super fun, out of the normal activities, I was surprised
that P was already dead set that he was NOT attending school next week.
He got upset and cried a bit off and on the entire weekend
and all I could get out of him was that he didn’t want to go to school this
week. Which was extremely
frustrating and felt like a huge set back from the immense progress we had been
making. After all, he’s been doing
SO well lately… relatively speaking and all.
So Sunday night after a complete melt down, I managed to
calm him down with the deal that we go get ready for bed (also a doozie for us),
I’d sleep in his top bunk with him all night (I don’t know why this part of the
deal was so enticing to him seeing as how that’s where we, yes we, sleep almost every single night these days), and we would
just talk about why he was so nervous.
At first the conversation went like this:
M: Ok sweet
Monkey, tell me why you don’t wanna go to school this week.
P: Cause it’s a
special week.
M: But that’s
gonna be SUPER fun! You get to
bring your favorite toy, wear pajamas, bring 100 of your favorite snack, yadda,
yadda, yadda…..
P: But I just
don’t wanna go. I don’t like
school.
M: Yes you do
baby. Look at Mommy. Tell me exactly. what. you. are.
afraid. of. Tell Mommy the ONE thing
you are scared about. What’s
bothering you? Just the ONE THING
that’s upsetting you. (I got
realllllllly quiet, slow, and serious, frankly because I KNEW there was
something I was missing.)
And this is when the tears started falling.
P: Because it’s
a SPECIAL week Mommy!
M: Yes, baby, I
know.
P: And we’re
gonna celebrate a birthday.
M: Forgetting
the reason for the special week being Dr. Seuss celebration, I respond: Oh fun! Who’s birthday is it?
It’s gonna be your birthday in May. Maybe your class will sing happy birthday to you soon too!
P: Crickets…………..THE
DOCTOR’s!!! The doctor that’s
coming to school next week! It’s
HER birthday!!! {TEARS!!!!}
M: Oh yes! Dr. Seuss’ birthday! But that will be so much fun!
P: IS THE DOCTOR
SUSAN GONNA GIVE ME A SHOT?!?!?!?!
BAM.
And that’s when I got it. Little Monkey had been terrified the entire weekend that
Dr. Susan was
coming to his classroom and would give him a shot.
And that’s the moment I got to be a Mommy and love on my
baby and tell him all about Dr. Suess, who wrote lots of the silly books that
we love so much. And to further
calm his fears, we got to talk a little about heaven (ALSO a doozie for us… how
many of those do we have?!) since Dr. Suess passed away a while back.
And the next morning?
{thankful for}
honest conversations, no matter how big or small, that build trust
midnight snuggles in the top bunk
a teacher who makes Dr Susan's birthday a blast to celebrate

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