monday morning when library mum popped her head into the doorway of sebastian’s class for a little bit of observation before rounding up the kids and heading off to the library i observed that things were a little bit askew at sebastian’s table.

both he and rufus were chatting to girls.

how nice, i thought. that’s good. rufus and sebastian remain very good friends and i like the friendship. they get along quite well. i helped another table use their parachute words of the day "and" and "but" and then it was time to distribute library pockets (library books are kept inside) and head up to the library.

i noticed that sebastian stood in line and walked to the library with this girl, a very sweet girl i know as viola. how nice, i thought, that’s good. during the library session, sebastian and rufus hung out together and looked at beano comics with a few other boys. i helped sebastian select a chapter book which i am reading to him at home, the littlest dragon.

then it was time for circle time reading. as the kids gathered round me (this takes a long time), i noticed that rufus was jockeying to sit next to sebastian and a girl was jockeying to sit next to rufus. sebastian was already sitting down next to viola. how odd, i thought, and instead of sweeping my arms in hen like movements to get the kids next to me, i neglected the class and observed my child.

i saw viola and sebastian hold their library pockets up to their faces, drop them down to their noses, and then past their mouths MAKE KISSING GESTURES AND THEN LIFT THEIR LIBRARY POCKETS UP TO THEIR FACES AGAIN. it was like a national geographic special on whooping cranes in the marshes except it was my child in the library! they giggled and then when they saw me observing them, blushed and looked at each other.

i didn’t know the best way to handle this. be stern and say "If you’re finished!" ignore them? croon an air supply song? congratulate viola on her obvious good taste?

i chose to ignore.

rufus’ girl has a tougher time ahead of her. good luck jerrie.

sebastian walked down the stairs with rufus.

but !!!!

i asked him at home, infront of mr scott, about a few of the girls in his class. scott was there so sebastian was unusually expansive, and i think i got scott to ask the first question which helped. and so i asked sebastian about a few of the girls and then i said, "i think viola is a really nice girl" and then he clasped his hands and turned them inside out and said, "yes, she is, she is my favourite." to which, i asked the innocent question, and not an entirely far fetched one seeing that i had observed both she and my son making a smooch face…"is viola a kissy girl"?

and sebastian got almost affronted. "oh no!" he said seriously. "not viola".

i think this little friendship has a lifespan of two more weeks, and then we will see what will happen. maybe jerrie will have cracked rufus by then which automatically will extend the romance as jerrie and viola are friends. the laws of romance.