Something changed in Dekker a while ago, and I’m not sure I’ve addressed it on the blog before! Its so small, but SO good! Weird good. I don’t know, lol! The background of it is good 🙂 You’ll get it.
I KNOW that my son has had a good day at school when he comes home like this.
This kid used to FREAK out if he was ever messy. For those reasons, he would not paint, play with play dough, eat finger food, play in the dirt, etc. He positively could not handle it. For the record, it was handy for a time, and I liked how much he disliked being messy, but it was not something we pushed for. We wanted him to play, and sometimes it was a HUGE pain when he didn’t want to go outside or run around the same way. Kindergarten broke him into some of those things, and he had to stretch. And it helped! I remember him telling me about a kid spilling juice on his hoodie one day. He cried through the story, and was very upset by his messy clothes. But not too long after that, he came home once again doused in food, but very casually said he had spilled his (purple, that day) apple sauce on himself. No biggie for him. A pain to get the stain out, lol, but in that moment, I knew there had been a shift. Messes happen. No bigs. Just life.
But now, the kid comes home everyday with a new look. Its usually marker on his face, and aaaaall over his hands. I’ll point it out and make a joke about it, and he will say something like “Whoops! Must’ve had too much fun…” or something else Dekker-like.
So this was him yesterday. Marker right on the end of his nose. A year or two ago, he would’ve cried until I cleaned him off. Yesterday, he laughed at himself and acted all embarrassed, but that was it. No hangups. Being the aces parent that I am, I sent him to kids club later that day with the marker still on his nose. He came home with paint on his face, so really, what was the difference. His clothes and face were a mess, and his freshly washed hair was nuts. And he was totally happy.
This seems small. Trust me, I know. Kids don’t usually care about things like this. But mine did. Like a LOT. And now, he’s totally comfortable in his own skin. Coming into kindergarten, I told his teacher I was more concerned about Dekker gaining confidence than academic skills, and he really did! He is totally comfortable in his own skin, whether its messy or not. And I LOVE that! Sure, kindergarten was a hard year for him. He did a lot of stretching. But it has really paid off. He was incredible before, but now he knows that he’s incredible. I love that.