Last weekend, my older daughter and I were helping out at our synagogue, organizing and shelving books for the new kid-corner in their library. H. went full out helping - she was working so hard! And she was so happy to be helping along with all the grown-ups. And then, there was a spider incident: a big spider was hiding in a corner, behind an old bookshelf. There was a lot of shuffling about, and calls for a vacuum cleaner (get it quick!). In the midst of all the noise, H. very quietly knelt down by the spider, scooped it up (bare hands and all), and took the poor creature outside. There were lots of "oohs" and "aahs" and "I can't believe she it touching it". H was loving it :) She was the hero of the day.
For the second year in a row, a sparrow has made a nest inside one of our hanging plants on the front porch. Last year, we have discovered the nest with tiny chicks while watering the plants (my mother got a bit of a shock) - and then enjoyed watching them grow and, eventually, take wing. This year, we found the brand-new nest, then saw the 4 blueish eggs, and a couple of weeks later - 4 tiny, mostly naked chicks. Last week, there were only 3 chicks in the nest (not so tiny any more and mostly fluffy). A couple of days ago, we checked again - and one the chicks seemed to be not doing too well. Now I am afraid to look.... The kids want to see the nest first thing in the morning, before we leave for the day, and I have this feeling of dread that the remaining babies will be dead in their nest. I'll need to ask my husband to check in the evening, discreetly. I am afraid the mother abandoned them (haven't seen her recently) - maybe we've been making too much noise outside and checking on the birds too often...
Speaking of sad stuff... my son has really been struggling at summer camp this year. He is somewhat on the emotional/sensitive side to begin with, but usually he gets along with most kids and makes friends easily. This year - "everyone hates me, they don't want to be my friends, the kids are mean..." To be fair - he has made a few new friends, and he got to see a couple of his friends from last year, but none of them stick around for more than 2 weeks. We've had our kids in the same summer camp for the whole summer. It seemed like a logical choice - why move them around all the time, let them be at a place they know and feel comfortable, plus it is an easy drop-off/pick up for me. Now I am thinking - next summer, we'll try to do it differently. Brake it up a bit and let them try different things. The worst part is - he breaks down into tears... it really worries me that he'll be perceived as "easy target" by other kids, that the word of his crying fits will spread and will become his reputation ("here comes the crybaby..."), and that he'll be targeted by bullies. I am not helping by being annoyed with his weeping and whining (I have reasons to be annoyed that are perfectly human and understandable, but I need to figure out a more helpful attitude for both of us).
No comments:
Post a Comment