My six year old son is a gentle bear of a kid. He loves to give intense, linebacker-style hugs. His physical strength amazes me some days. We are glad that he is closest in age to Jillian. He has been officially dubbed "Jillian's protector" as she ventures through her school days :)
All rough and tough at times on the outside, he is all "mush" on the inside. Of all my children, I think he has inherited my super sensitivity gene. He can get upset very easily. Many times during kindergarten last year, he would get visibly teary eyed when called to do a new task or present anything to his class. I worried about his sense of comfort each day. As I worked around the house, I would continually ask myself, "I hope Joe is happy right now. I hope he's not too nervous." His teacher would let me know if Joe had a particularly nervous day. Amazingly, he didn't miss a day of kindergarten. He is so proud of that fact. Joe worked hard throughout kindergarten, and I'm proud of his determination and achievement.
Today we are two weeks from the first day of school. Joe is moody and acting out a lot. I can tell that he is getting nervous. So am I. As he gets older, I hope that his nervousness subsides.
He truly is my gentle bear. He is full of hugs and kisses for all of us in the family. When he feels hurt, he also feels that emotion very strongly. He looks for my comfort often. I do feel that he has learned to "self-comfort" pretty well in school. He just needs to not show his nervousness so much. The other kids start to point it out and that can make things worse for him.
Well, there's my latest worry about my kids. Keep your fingers crossed for my Joe as he gets on the bus on the first day of school. Think of nervous me too as I wave good-bye to him.
My husband thinks that I'm super "mushy" too :)
