Sweet Sophie girl

It is time for an update on my Sophie girl. She has been having a few struggles with school lately and it breaks my heart! She has two "friends" at school that she has been playing with who have shown up in numerous drawings of Sophie's. She always draws them the same: one has short brown hair and one and has flipped brown hair. She has shed several tears over the fact that they are not always the best of friends (telling her she has gross hands, stinky breath, they don't want to be her friend, etc...) And despite my encouragement to play with other kids she is determined to win them over. She told me a few days ago, "I think they are getting used to me." Her teacher has talked to one of the girl's dads and it seemed to get better for a bit. I hate not knowing what's really happening, though. Wouldn't I love to be a fly on the wall in her classroom! I know she is pretty sensitive to anything she perceives as unkind, and since I'm not there to see what is really going on I don't know what else to do besides try to encourage friendships with other children and teach her how to deal with the situation. She brought home this picture the other day:

note: she draws herself wearing a crown in almost every picture she does :)

This was when I realized she was really feeling bad about the situation. This is friend #1 on the left, holding hands with Sophie, leaving out friend #2 on the right. She was obviously feeling like friend #2 and wanting to be the one who was not left out. Sad. Every morning for the past two weeks she has not wanted to go to school. She comes up with all kinds of excuses (I don't like Math, it's too cold outside, etc...) It breaks my heart to send her off to school looking sad, luckily she almost always has a good day. She does have other friends and she loves her teacher and most things about school, so it is not all bad. Yesterday I was putting her lunch bag away and found this note in her locker. I have to admit it brought me to tears!

Translation: Mom, I miss you when I am at school. I want to stay home. Love Sophie

Geez, she sure knows how to tug at a mom's heartstrings! Part of me really wants to let her stay home occasionally - but I know if I do that she's going to want to do it all the time. Next week we have a playdate with one of the girls from her class that is very sweet, so I hope by doing that Sophie will get to know her better and be excited for school again. We also have a parent teacher conference next week so that will be nice to get some more insight on what is going on at school. Anyway, I hope this post doesn't come across as too depressing or negative because Sophie is still happy and having fun and enjoying school for the most part!