Too much

Dexter often falls asleep on the way home from school but it's very rare that his sister does too. It's either been a long term or she's coming down with something.

A couple of events happened today that are worth mentioning.
I received an email from Dexter's teacher at lunchtime asking if I could have a chat with her after school regarding Dex's behaviour. As a parent and teacher, I was really worried. Approximately an hour later I received an email from Olivia's teacher asking if I could stop by the class after school to discuss something that happened today with Olivia! What the? This never happens. What are my kids doing?

I met with Dex's teacher first and it seems that he's struggling to understand friendships and has been quite difficult in class. One of the main causes is that he is very sociable and doesn't understand it when his friends don't want to play with the same toy or game that he does. He tries to cajole the whole class into playing what he wants and he gets upset when they don't want to. He also had a huge tantrum in the class when his teacher tried to get him to stay at an activity for longer as apparently he likes to flit between activities and doesn't really get the most out of them. He seems very sensitive at the moment.

She asked if something had changed at home as he's not usually like this which I hate as you automatically feel guilty as if you're hiding something. He's four for goodness sake, still likes his afternoon sleeps, would still rather stay at home than go to school and as far as we're concerned he's just trying to adapt to a new routine. His teacher was very nice to be fair and was just wants to help him with his behaviour. Dex was very sheepish and just wanted some Mamma cuddles.

Next we headed to Olivia's class. Through the initiative of her teacher the class have started a community service learning project. She has arranged four visits to a residential home for the elderly called L'Olivier and today was their first visit. Olivia was paired with an elderly lady called Sister Marie Pascale (yes, a former Nun). Her teacher wanted to tell us what a great job Olivia had done and how amazing and confident she was with the residents, which can be quite daunting for young children. Olivia did share that she visits her Great Grandma who lives in a residential home. Anyway, the main reason her teacher wanted to see us because she wanted to share a story. She told us Olivia met her alter-ego today and if we want to know what Olivia is going to be like in her 80s we should go and visit! Apparently Sister Marie Pascale has so much energy and enthusiasm that her and Olivia hit it off straight away. At the end the class sang a song for the residents and Olivia does a funky dance move with her arms and head and her new friend was copying Olivia's moves. Her teacher said it was hilarious and they both can't wait to see each other next week!
It was really lovely hearing a story like this as sometimes you need reminding that your kids are actually... really lovely!