Difficult moments and fears overcome

This morning the county does not have school, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to get together with Milo, Theo's favorite friend from school. I emailed with his mom and made plans to meet them at Crozet Elementary playground this morning.

I thought Theo would be excited, but in the morning when we told him our plan, he sulked and said he did not want to go. Once we were in the car, he started crying, talking about missing his class and how he will "never get to go to that class again." He said he did not want Milo to know he is doing homeschool, and that being at the school was going to make him feel sad.

For the last few days he has been more relaxed than I have seen him in a while. He and Willem have been getting along better, and we have been enjoying our quality time together. However, he is still letting go of school and his routine there, and I TOTALLY understand how difficult that must be.

Back to this morning: I told Theo that while it is okay to be sad, we made a commitment and must follow through. Milo and his mom would be waiting for us at the school and we had to go meet them. We talked about how "time heals all wounds", and how though he might miss the school for a while, he would eventually not feel so sad when he thinks about it.

Once we arrived at the school he refused to put on his coat, even though it was windy and cold out and he was shivering. He was in full knight regalia: helmet, shield, cuffs, sword, and so on. (We have been reading adaptations of King Arthur and other knight stories for children and he is in full-on knight mode these days.) For ten minutes he stood shivering, saying he did not want to play and wanted to go home. He would not say hi to Milo.

Finally, after ten minutes or so, Theo looked at me and said, "I want to take off my knight costume and put on my coat." He did so, and he and Milo ran off to play. They played happily for over an hour, at which point we all headed to the library to get some new books. Milo read out loud to my boys a bit (inspiring!). The boys knelt on the floor together, looking at a superhero book (Willem included). They were content and enjoying each other's company very much.

Milo's mom and I made plans to have a standing playdate every Friday, so the boys can see each other regularly and continue their friendship. I think it means a lot to Theo to have seen Milo and continued their friendship outside of school. And I think going to the school and seeing that it can be part of his life still is important too. He faced a fear and seems to feel stronger having done so. A morning with difficult moments, but ultimately a victory! We have to celebrate the victories, no matter how seemingly small.

Fun moment from the day:
Theo: "Mama, what is the universe?"
Me: "Everything that exists that we know of."
Theo: "Are there lots of universes?"
Me: "Maybe! We don't know for sure one way or another."
Theo: "Maybe heaven is another universe!"