A four-year-old who thought his soldier dad had recorded a book passage from deployment for his Pre-K class’ mystery reader screamed in shock when he discovered he was actually at school in person. Oliver Malveaux is a 'mini close' of his father, Pierre, a sergeant first class with the United States Army, who he’d been sorely missing while deployed for most of the past year. Pierre, 32, from Fort Carson, Colorado, missed many milestones in his son's life, having been deployed four times to the Middle East, once to the border, and on another rotation to South Korea. Knowing his son was feeling sad at school, but he wouldn’t be returning home for a few months, Pierre planned a surprise for his son in the meantime, with the help of his wife Molly. A few weeks earlier, Pierre sent an audio message to Oliver's teacher, Ms. Jess, which was then added to a character who could be placed on a Toniebox. As Oliver loved the surprise so much, Pierre decided to take things one step further for the reunion itself, following his deployment. When Oliver was called up to the front of the class on November 19, Ms. Jess told him that his father would like to read another book – but this time it would need to be collected from the front office.
