Day 3 of Kindergarten

Dear Teacher,

Thanks so much for dealing with my daughter today. You looked super cute, even if those heels weren't ideal for carrying a large child up 5 flights! YIKES.

We took Pukey to the doctor and she appears to be fine. Her "pain" escalates quite a bit in my presence. Her doctor suggested that sometimes a cold or a virus can (he used a fancy medical term here) sort of group in the hip area, and to watch her for fever or other symptoms. I doubt this is happening.

I personally feel that her behavior today was a combination of a small bit of pain (growing pains/charlie horses at night), EXHAUSTION, change, adjustment, anxiety that she is not talking about but manifesting in physical symptoms, and who knows what else. The doctor suggested we keep her home tomorrow, so we will.

I think you did the right thing today by not encouraging her behavior, and I hope that we can nip this in the bud. I feel bad for her either way: Whether it is real pain or just her way of coping with change, and I am hoping to be here for her as best I can.

On another note, I saw the pictures that they drew, displayed on the bulletin board outside your room...so cute....and while we were waiting for the doctor this afternoon she showed me the sign language for pink, red, green and black.

Thanks so much for helping this little girl who is so special to me, find her way in this new, wild world.

[She ended up going to school on Day 4, and according to the teacher, did fine. However, when I picked her up, she was crying and limping again. She went home and went straight to sleep at her request, and later was caught doing jumping jacks and dancing in between the limping. I have never seen this fake injury coping mechanism for change and transition. I am trying to validate the cause behind it, but not the "injury" itself. I could use some advice from ya'll about this phenomenon. And this concludes a week of Kage posts...who knew school would provide so much fodder?]