Rene was staining the deck and Dimitri was helping. Paulo desperately wanted to help too. He went out in the afternoon to work, but he was, rejected. Apparently there wasn't a job available for one so small. He was crushed. He came back into the house, eyes filling with tears, devastated. I tried to comfort him, I offered a walk, I offered a book, a board game, anything I could think of to lift his spirits. He didn't want comfort. He laid his sad little self down on the bench and there he stayed, watching his Dad and brother do what he was told he couldn't.
He must have stayed on that bench for close to an hour, stewing. It's so hard to watch your baby struggle with deep disappointment, when he hurts I hurt and he was really hurt. He finally got up and eventually went back outside, he got permission to apply the final stroke of the stain. I went out later to prune some plants and my seven year old came up to me and said "Well at least, I'm talking to my Dad again". I told him that was a good thing.
Aw, poor baby! It's hard when they are grown up in their minds, but not their bodies.
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