When Rosalind was 4 and in JK one of her first good friends was Emilyn. They were in the JK, SK and Grade 1 at Suddaby PS together and loved spending time with each other. For a bit of that time the before and after school care was at the same place as well which just enhanced the bond. When we moved Rosalind and Carolina ( who was to start in JK ) the year Rosalind was going into Grade 2 , it became hard to keep the connection. We have tried with occasional ( very occasional ) playdates and birthdays to keep Emilyn and Rosalind connected and to help keep that friendship alive .
Carolina, now in SK, rolled into the new school with Jillian at her side and the two have pretty much stuck it out together either the best of friends or worst of enemies. Over the past month, we have heard a new name over and over - Maya. Apparently a brand new student at school, in Grade 1, as she comes from England where there is no JK/SK split and so is the same age as Carolina. Maya is a very sweet, darling little child and seems to be a great match for Carolina.
There is great hugging and kissing and just general cozying up at the beginning of the day as they greet each other and sighs and hugs at the end of the day when its time to go home. Maya is really Carolina's first best friend. She has gotten along well with all the kids in her class but there has been no deep close friendship bloom. A high point for Carolina was being invited to Maya's parents house- warming party. The parents allowed each of their kids a friend to the party and Maya asked Carolina. The two played very well and Carolina still talks about it. For Carolina's birthday I kept trying to get to the essence of what she wanted for her birthday and finally she told me she wanted Maya over for a playdate. This from the girl with the big party last year who just glowed as all her class sang Happy Birthday to her !!! So Saturday, we collect Maya and go to Build A Bear where they can each pick a stuffie and make it , give it a heart, a name , an outfit and come back to our place to have a tea party with their new stuffies.
Rosalind will have her play date with Emilyn Saturday including any part of the tea party they want to join in with the 'little girls' ( as Rosalind is so fond of calling Carolina, Jillian and their friends ).
Its so neat to see your childrens friendships grow and develop. Its also hard to see those friendships tested by individual personalities and charactor traits of the players !! It is part of growing up but hard to watch and offer advice from the sidelines, letting your children make their choices handling these new situations. We seem to have seen a bit of both the thrill of the new friendship and the challenge of the other in the past few weeks .....
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