You may say I'm a dreamer...

On Monday, I went to our first parent-teacher conference at Leo’s school. Leo is a bright student and he’s a big dreamer. Well, according to the teachers, he “doesn’t listen very well.” That doesn’t mean he’s defiant. That means they have to ask him to do something three times before he moves. That means he can stand in front of the toilet for 5 minutes and not get in or that he can sit at the lunch table and eat the cereal bar I gave him in his lunch box but not request the meal the school should give him (that has happened a couple of times). Maybe he’s too much of a rule follower, maybe he’s not autonomous enough, maybe he doesn’t care that much. I don’t know. He doesn’t tell us much. 

But I have noticed he does the same at home. If he watches TV, we have to yell at him for him to turn his head to us, hearing us call his name for the first time –when we have actually called him 5 times. You can tell he stops and thinks when we’re trying to get him to get dressed, brush his teeth, and overall get ready in the morning. 

Also, he just refuses to speak French. When we ask him if he speaks French he says “not all the words.” It’s a bit like it’s all or nothing. Either he knows ALL the words or he knows nothing at all.

Does he put too much pressure on himself? Maybe.

We’re left with a lot of questions. Nothing dramatic. He’s only 3. I just wonder what we’re doing to cause that. Maybe we rush him all the time. Maybe Jude’s arrival was more of a shock than we thought. Maybe school is not challenging enough for him, since he doesn’t really understand what is being said. It’s just hard not knowing how to help him. Then again, the teacher says he doesn’t seem to be bothered by any of this. He plays, he smiles, he talks. So maybe this is no issue? Maybe it’s just the way he is. I’m just anxious about his well-being and want to make sure he’s not afraid of trying, not afraid of asking for help and of sticking up for himself. So I’ll observe him more and see what he needs –and maybe see that yes, he’s a dreamer all right, and just let him be. We’ll see.