Tender Heart!

What can I say? My sweet Cooper has is sensitive soul!! I had the chance to watch him interact with some unknown boys at the park this past weekend, and it was interesting to say the least! Let me first say that he looked like a little puppy dog with his tail wagging a million times a minute when he realized that there were actually "friends" at the park! We had gone the day before, and he was truly disappointed that nobody was there to play with him! He kept saying, "Look, Mommy, my friends came to play with me!" So as I was getting Whitten out of the car, Cooper dashed over to a group of boys and happily introduced himself. It went a little like this:

Coop: Hey, I'm Cooper, what's your name?

Boys: Blank stares, and then a reply from one little boy... uhhhh, Adam.

C: Wanna play with me? Come get me!!!

Boys: More blank stares

C: Come get me. Let's play!

Boys: Seemed quite annoyed!

C: Ran away, looking back...hoping that someone is chasing him.

Finally, a little boy Coop's size (Adam...who I later found out was 4 1/2) followed Cooper to pick up pine cones. They chatted. It was cute. Coop decided he wanted to swing. Yes, he still likes the baby swings because he can "go really high"!! So, he and Adam ran to the swings! Well, he got made fun of for swinging in the baby swing! He wanted out and then had to wait to get in a "big boy" swing! After Adam walked away, Coop decided to try the big swing....only to have Adam come stomping back and demanding his swing back. Coop got out and picked up a stick that Adam had been playing with earlier. Again, Adam demanded "his" stick back. Coop handed it to him and tears began to well up in his eyes! I could tell he didn't want Adam to know he was crying, but his feelings were hurt. He walked over to me, and told me he was ready to go.

All this to say....well, a couple of things! #1: Holy moly! I can't handle kids not being nice to my kid! Ha! How terrible is that!? I didn't know how to handle the situation. I wonder if Coop would have handled the situation differently if I wasn't there. #2: Coop is so very sensitive and I've always known that! #3: I will take sensitive over rude any day! #4: I worry being sensitive will hinder him. #5: Will he be able to stick up for himself? #6: I don't want him to be known as the cry baby (which....he kind of is right now)!

I had another interesting conversation with Cooper's teacher the other day during our conference! I've always assumed that he was super outgoing and somewhat of a leader! Not even!!!!! She told me that he was actually a little bit timid and seemed to hang back and observe....trying to find his place!!! So interesting! She also told me that most of the kids in his class had gone to MDO together and knew each other! I wonder if that was why he was so timid! I so wish I could be a fly on the wall to watch him interact!!

I'm not enjoying thinking about his adolescent years! I pray with all of my heart that first and foremost he loves Jesus with every ounce of his being and that the friends he does make, love Jesus just as much! I pray that they love each other and support each other! I pray that he's never afraid to talk about God and that he encourages his friends to do the same!

Yikes! I don't like this growing up thing! We have such a responsibility as parents! As my sweet friend reminded me the other day, these are not our children, they are God's children and they are only on loan to us for a little while!

So, that little boy at the park!? Cooper told me he wasn't nice! So we had a great conversation about how to be nice to friends and that we need to be respectful and polite even when our friends are not nice to us! Ummm....hoping that sticks!!