Meltdowns

When Mikayla and Haley were little one of their favorite stories was The Kissing Hand.

When they started school they both had rituals we had to do at drop offs. They were never real fond of me leaving them. Mikayla especially would get a little weepy at times. And Haley had a hard time with transitions.

So we came up with an idea. When I dropped them off I would give them a kissing hand and they would give me one. And as I was walking away we would touch our cheeks with our kissing hands.

Then one day Haley told me she was worried that the kissing hand wasn't working. She thought that because she had to wash her hands at times throughout the day that she was washing off the "kiss" that was supposed to be comforting her while I wasn't with her. And Mikayla agreed.

So we developed a special spray that after we would kiss each other's hands we would spray a little of this spray into each others' hands and it would keep the kiss on our hand all day, no matter how many time we washed our hands.

As they got older and more independent the kissing hand was needed less.

It was always a great memory for me. But I had sort of forgotten about it until recently.

Jilly is having a hard time with her emotions at school. I had my first parent/teacher conference with her teacher yesterday. Academically she is doing fantastic. Reading like a champ. The only "concern" is that Jilly cries very, very easily. I knew this. I had hoped it would get better in kindergarten, new experiences, new people. But it hasn't. And it is actually worse when I am around.

I have given Jilly a kissing hand a few times before. Mostly at bedtime when she tells me that she had bad dreams.

Last night we were laying in her bed talking about the day. I shared with her how awesome her teacher said she is doing in school, how smart she is - she says "yeah, I know". And then I ask her if she is still crying alot at school. She says, "yeah, sometimes I just can't help it". So we talked about things that make us cry and how to use our words.

She then said "what about a kissing hand?" I told her I thought that was a fantastic idea. That I could give her a kissing hand when I drop her off at school and if she is feeling sad or feels like crying to put her hand to her cheek and mommy will be giving her a kiss to make her feel better.

She thought about it and said that would help her a lot but her teacher has them wash their hands a lot and what if she washes the kiss off and feels like crying?

So I told her how when Mikayla and Haley were little like her we developed a special spray that would protect the kiss and keep it on her hand no matter what.

She thought that was pretty cool so I showed her how we spray the kiss to protect it. She then touched her cheek and told me that makes her happy.

She then pulled my hand up to her mouth, kissed it and sprayed it with the special spray. And she told me she would do this for me in the morning in case I was having a bad day or missing her I would have her kiss to make me feel better.

And it worked.....for me anyway.