Not Quite Getting It

S1 is a clever little guy. If he wants something, then he will figure out how to get it. However, often times we run into problems because he understands the big picture of what we are talking about, but not the intricacies. This morning was a good example of this. Dave overslept and was late getting to work. For this reason S1 was up while Dave was getting ready. Dave talked with him and spoke of how he was getting ready to go to work and that S1 would get to go to school and such. Well, I was up at this point as Dave was about ready to go out the door. S1 was still in his pajamas and was standing at the door. We went downstairs to get S1 some pants for the day. He carried them back up. I sat on the couch and told him he needed to get dressed. S1 handed me his pants and was trying to get me to help him get them on. He was a bit frantic as he saw that dad was dressed and was about to leave. So he came over to me and started pulling at his pajamas to try and get them off. As we were taking them off, Dave gave us all kisses goodbye (S3 was up too-very thrilled to get to see his father in the morning for a change) and headed out the door.

S1 broke down sobbing because he thought he was getting left behind since he wasn't ready. I felt for the kid because you could just hear his little heart breaking in his voice and I could see it in his face when he'd look up to me. I held him while he cried and patted his back and told him repeatedly that it was okay, that he was going to school in a little bit on the bus, he just had to finish getting dressed. Well, he just kept on sobbing. Saddest thing you have ever seen or heard. Fortunately, Dave came back into the house because he had forgotten something - I am sure that S1 thought it was him. I took advantage of this opportunity to shuffle S1 back to the bedroom to change his diaper, get the rest of his clothes and keep him from seeing dad leave without him-again. Before you know it he was happily sitting watching cartoons, fully dressed with a belly full of oatmeal, just waiting for the bus to come. And boy, you should have seen him take off out that door for the bus! He meant business.

I realized when he started crying that he had understood that Dad was leaving and that he would be going to school - thinking that he would be going to school via Dad. I think lots of times this is a source of his breakdowns/frustrations/whatever you want to call them. S1 gets the gist of what will be going on, but not the details, those go over his head. Then when things don't go how he thought they would, he gets upset/hurt, thinking that because it's not happening now, it's not going to happen at all. Poor guy.