Ebube and James

I know I've mentioned James' dislike of Ebube, from daycare. He has told us several times that Ebube has pushed him or hit him. He seems scared of Ebube. I've mentioned it two different times now to the daycare staff and I know they are fully aware of the concerns. One of the teachers listened to my concern and then did an observation the next time Ebube was in school. He's only there on a particular day, and only for half a day.

The teacher observed that James was on high alert as soon as Ebube came in to the classroom. James seemed nervous, maybe scared, but he followed Ebube all morning. Watched him all morning. And then they played. James and Ebube played well until Ebube pushed James. Now, that's pretty common at this age. What was concerning was that James really played it up, called for attention and repeated several times that Ebube pushed him. The teacher had watched the whole thing and James really kind of exaggerated the incident. They handled it, Ebube was talked to and then everything went back to normal.

So I don't think Ebube is the terrible bully that James believes him to be. I KNOW that James exaggerates things because we see it at home. We can be changing his poopy diaper/pull-up and holding up his legs and James will cry out "You're hurting me!" (Yeah, we've been scared that he'll go to daycare and repeat that one- I had a talk with the teacher and we've agreed to always talk out whatever James says- whether he says something happens at home, or whether he says things about students/staff.)

So that day the teacher really stressed to us that James and Ebube played so well that day. We were saying this in front of James, so he could hear us. We think it's probably best to keep saying positive things about Ebube and not focus on the pushing and the fact that James thinks "Ebube is naughty". We got James to say that Ebube is fun, they had a great day, etc.

Two days later I was told that Ebube and his family went to Africa to visit family for the next few months. Figures.