The Sadlers: Boo!

The kids were invited to Cooper and Chloe's Halloween party Friday and were very excited to go. Matalley kept up with all the big kids, but sadly Grayson was intimidated and just wanted to watch from the sidelines. That has to be one of the toughest things for me as a parent. I don't want them missing out on the fun because they are scared of something they shouldn't be. It all stems from an incident this summer, at the pool. Grayson met up with Cooper and his friends a few times. On one occasion, one of the boys laughed at the coverup Grayson was wearing or at something Grayson said about the coverup. While I'm betting it wasn't malicious, Grayson's feelings were hurt and it took him a while before he would wear (the very expensive and awesome) coverup. At the time I thought I was saying the right things, "Oh Grayson, he was just jealous because he didn't have something as cool as you" or "maybe he was teasing, just laugh it off" and "Do you think it's cool Grayson? Then don't worry about what other people think." But for some reason, it just stuck with Grayson. I honestly had totally forgotten about it or at least thought he was over it. But when we showed up at the party, Grayson immediately started back tracking, not wanting to wear his costume(which has a sword!!) and just not wanting to go in. I, instead of being empathetic, just tried to ignore his fear. Probably the wrong thing to do, but how do you get your kid to be confident over something so insignificant; especially when there are going to be so many more significant things down the road? So while Matalley enjoyed the party,

this is what Grayson did for most of it...

(he's at a table in another room, by himself). And he wanted to be there (I know because at one point I made him go get in the car so I could run some errands and he didn't want to leave Matalley there and the idea of food enticed him to stay). So there lies my conundrum...what to say so that he gets over it and acts like the confident, sweet boy that he really is and how to handle it better next time so I don't have this overwhelming sense of guilt that I am ruining my child's life.

And when I say that Matalley was keeping up with the big kids, she ran the relay race and inhaled her powdered donut as quick as any of them.

This weekend was the last weekend of soccer. A game yesterday and a game today. Grayson has really improved this season. I was very proud of his aggressiveness and he had a good time.