a happy heart

Unfortunately the first few weeks of school have not been all smooth sailing for Isaac. He loves school, he loves his teacher, but he is not at all happy about the part where I leave him each morning. We have talked about the routines, we go early for a long play outside before reading time. We have tried no outside playtime and straight into reading, I have tried staying a little longer, and tried leaving quickly to be somewhere, Ive even tried bribery - usually the mere suggestion of a gelati will achieve miracles - in fact I'm running out of strategies to try! He is totally fine until I have to leave, then the tears and clinging start. He is fine soon after Im gone, and by all accounts has a wonderful day at school.

We have only had one morning with out tears so far. Most mornings I have to leave him crying with his poor teacher. She is awesome, and understanding and supportive, but (as much as the behaviour is beginning to annoy me) it is so hard to leave your little one in tears every single morning. Last week he told me he cried because his heart felt sad when I left (and yep, I had to swallow a lump in my throat after that!)

I though I would try sending something along with him to hopefully give him a hand getting through this. Teddy would be the perfect companion, but 1. I don't think that sending a Teddy to school is very practical, and 2. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be very cool to be crying and cuddling your teddy every morning. I began thinking more along the lines of something small to pop in his pocket. that's when this little fella came to mind. Isaac and I made this little 'Happy Heart' together tonight after school.

After a big long talk (that shed no light on the issue at all!)about what was making him so sad etc and the fact that crying and yelling all the way to the car (and all the way home!) after school because we were not getting gelati (that was going to be the reward for not crying in the morning) was just not OK.

Little happy heart is going to spend most of the time tucked safely away in in Isaac's pocket, close by, so he can hold it when ever he needs. Hopefully it will provide a little physical distraction for him when he starts to feel his heart getting sad. It has a little smile to remind him to be happy, and even though his eyes look like plain old crosses, they are really special kisses just for him.

Fingers crossed that we both have a 'happy heart' morning tomorrow.