Thursday 26 February 2009

All's well that ends...

I have previously alluded to the fact that Little Man wasn't an entirely happy camper when he started the new year at school. He's in a different class to most of his friends, he's suspicious of his teacher's motives and worst of all, suddenly everyone at his school knows his little sister and he's "just a nobody". Ouch. Life just is not fair.

So, after his first week at school, and a weekend jam-packed with fun, Little Man succumbed to Sunday night-itis, and gee whiz, he's only seven. Sigh. He announced he didn't want to go to school anymore. The next logical step was to pack his bags and run away. This was at dinner time on a Sunday night - I asked if he wanted to eat before he left, and he told me no, he'd get something on the road. Oh, okay, if you're sure then.

We watched him go, laden down with his gear. We had hesitatingly kissed him goodbye, then spied through the front windows, hoping against hope this was going to play out in our favour.

It did. He got as far as the end of our driveway (about 20 metres from the front door) and stood there watching the sunset for a few minutes, no doubt contemplating the un-fairness of life. Then he shrugged to no-one in particular, trudged back across the front yard, rang the doorbell and greeted us with a huge sheepish smile. Well, maybe he might have dinner with us after all, and leave tomorrow when it was lighter. Good idea, Little Man, we all agreed. It's good to have you home. (Of course, by next morning, the whole thing was forgotten, and it turns out he had a great time at school. Phew!).

I'm pleased to say that the kid knows how to pack well - every contingency covered - clothes for all kinds of weather, spare undies and socks, a torch, a book (on science experiments - go figure), sunscreen and a hat, even a pen and paper to write home!

On that note (no pun intended!), Princess had been getting increasingly upset as Little Man had begun packing. She was in awe that he was attempting such a feat, but getting chin wobbles at the thought of him going too. Until, that is, he told her not to worry about him - he would write a letter to her every day, maybe even twice a day! "Really?" She was getting excited. "Well, off you go then! Don't forget to write!" She was yelling with excitement now. "Mummy, Little Man's running away from home and he's going to write me a letter every day! I'm going to get lots of letters!" (This actually comes out as "wots of wetters'. Very cute). She simply could not contain her excitement. Not exactly the support I was hoping for.

Lucky for us, Little Man's internal compass still points to home, no matter what.

And (completely unrelated) he makes a dapper Qui-Gon Jinn, I reckon. The ensemble below was put together for a 'space' themed costume day at Joey Scouts. Every child there turned up in a Star Wars themed costume. The Force is strong indeed.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome home Little Man. You certainly packed better than I did when I left home with a flouncy "I Weaving" at 3yo with my apple and teddy.

Anonymous said...

Oooh, but how CUTE Gina!