Their Treasure [COMPLETED][UNEDITED]

Seventy Eight - Nathaniel

"Liula, come on" I held my hand out for my silent, teary eyed daughter as she came running over to me. Jamie was talking to her pre-K teacher and some friends, when Liula reached me I pulled her up into my arms. Her little wet face buried into my neck as I headed over to the door to catch up on her progress....or see if she's made any.

"Good afternoon, Mr Heartley" the teacher smiled as the girls went to play for a bit longer

"Hey. How was she today" I asked, motioning to my daughter in my arms. We'd been trying pre-K for both the girls, Jamie had started full time five days a week but Liula was a completely different story, we'd tried for a week last year and the teacher suggested she stayed at home and tried again this year, and we'd been trying to get her to cope since September, it wasn't working.

"Same as the last few weeks. Come in, is her mom coming?" She asked and I shook my head

"She's working late at the zoo, so I'm on pickup" the teacher nodded as she motioned for us to sit down. As soon as I sat down, Liula ran out of my arms and went to the little tent in the corner of the room, i sighed hopelessly - I don't know what I can do for her.

"So Jamie has settled into this year very well, made new friends as well as maintaining her existing friendship and She's performing academically above at the level we expect for her age group." I smiled, proud of my little genius, and then waited for her to discuss Liula. I got out the notepad Art had asked me to bring.

"Now I'm still very concerned about Liula. I can't tell you how she's doing academically because we have nothing. she refuses to sit with the group during learning time, she won't sit with others when we play group activities, she doesn't speak to anyone it doesn't matter whether it's a staff or a child, and she cries when any of the staff try to convince her to join in or even try to talk to her. I was worried we'd have to ring you today because she was crying so hard we thought she'd make herself sick." I sighed, writing the gist down as she spoke. This was the same as the last few meetings we'd had.

"She's never spoken to anyone outside the family, not even me and her momma. and every time we've tried to introduce her to a new person she has cried, in some cases where we left her - by the doctors instructions, she's cried so hard she's made herself sick." I rubbed my temple. My poor baby daughter.

"Yes, I've never seen a child like her and I've seen a lot of anxious children. This is obviously something we'll have to help her through, I don't want to tell you to stop bringing her here. The routine will at least be helpful for her in preparing her to the future, and even if she's just sitting in the corner of the room she's still absorbing the classroom environment..."

"We have another appointment with our doctor coming up, ill bring it up again. I think with how long she's been coming here this year, the doctors are more likely to believe it's not something she's getting over easily. Can you write us a letter confirming her behaviour?" I asked and she nodded