Acclimating: Part Two

Ben and I seem to have made strides in regards to our continuing acclimation to our new community.

Typically when I drop Ben off at, ahem, "school," he starts crying as soon as I bend down to give him a hug goodbye. A teacher comes over, scoops him up, and tries to get him focused on a fun activity. At first, I could hear Ben screaming all the way down the hall, and it broke my heart. For the past month, I've been thrilled because he's generally stopped crying somewhere between being picked up by the teacher and me leaving the room. Well, last Thursday he did something that I didn't think would ever happen - he didn't cry. At. All.

!!!

I was shocked, and my mouth was literally hanging open, and I looked at the teacher with my eyes wide open. And it doesn't seem like it was a fluke - it happened again today.

I have to admit that while I am so excited that we've reached this new level, I felt my heartstrings tugging at me because he wasn't sad that I was leaving. How ridiculous is that of me? The thing that I'd been hoping for had happened, and I was sad about it? I was sad that my son wasn't crying? Sheesh!

Anyway... also on Thursday, when I picked Ben up from school, one of his teachers told me that was getting more and more interactive with the other kids. She mentioned that he and a little girl named Brooke spent a lot of time together that day - they hugged when they woke up from their naps, and sat next to each other reading a book that was spread out across their legs in the reading area. How cute is that? I was so happy to hear that was coming out of his shell. The teacher said that Brooke was also one of the quieter kids... maybe that's why they were drawn to each other.

On Friday, we hosted the second meeting of our new playgroup. There were 5 moms and 10 kids (including us). Typically in these situations Ben is quite clingy, and insists on sitting in my lap. When he actually does get interested in toys, he takes my hand, leads me to where the toy of interest is, and makes me stand next to him while he plays (as he had done on Wednesday at our Moms & Tots playgroup). Well, on Friday you'd have thought he was a totally different kid - he was socializing with the other kids, and independent from me. One of the last families to arrive had a 5 year old little girl named Scarlet. She was feeling kind of shy and was hiding in the mudroom area. She stuck her head around the corner every so often to check us out in the playroom down the hall. Ben saw one of those peeks and said, "Who dat?!" I explained that it was Scarlet, and she was shy, and could ask her to come to the playroom? He ran down the hall, took her hand, and said, "Come play! Come to the playroom! Come play!" with a huge smile on his face. This is not at all like him! I think he interacted with every single kid there - playing in Logan's birthday tent with Gavin, looking at new baby Ashley's tiny hands, pushing Scarlet in the police car.

Of course I'm thinking that school gets the credit for Ben's "blossoming." It was so fun to watch; I really hope he keeps it up.