Super trouper

2005-06-24 - 10:01 a.m.

Okay.

I sort of have nothing to talk about today.

Here's a sort of summary. Art camp for M. Very good. She likes the life drawing best. I'm really glad. It's kind of a lot -- it's from 8:30 to 4:30 and pretty serious (it's at an art school), but it seems to be a hit. That's good. Horsebackriding last night was also good. She was quite worried about it -- the two other girls in her class are a)1 year younger than her b) lots better than her and c)best friends. So somewhat intimidating. She was kind of worried, but when I picked her up she was practically ecstatic. She told me she'd decided that instead of worrying about how she was so much worse and would just be a frustration for them, she decided to just accept the fact that she was worse and do the best she could, and after that she realized that they were not devils from hell and she actually felt like she did a really good job. They were making their horses go sideways, but she got Snoopy to go back and forth just right and that was a real victory.

This is pretty excellent, because if there has ever been a person to sabotage her own best efforts by worrying herself into tears and uselessness it's M.

N. apparently had the best day of her life yesterday. After Spanish she managed to get her ID (which she really does think is cool, I can tell) and then met E. They spent the whole day walking up and down the main street here, spending considerable time and money in the dollar store, buying bubbles, balloons, chalk, ribbon, sunglasses. N. got a rather lovely multicolored wig. I'm not exactly sure what they were doing, but it seemed to be fun. Then she went shoe-shopping with E and her mother (E. has a wedding to go to.) N. slept over there again. I brought her her backpack and some clothes last night, and then picked her up there this morning. E. was supposed to be Nora's show and tell for Spanish today, but it seems that E. slept in and N.'s going to use some sunglasses instead.

Here it is time for some reflections about Maddy's friend M. I like M. She's a nice girl. Maddy likes her. But there's something very young about her. She has a much older brother, and a much much older half-sister. M's parents are pretty protective of her, and she's actually pretty compliant. Almost to a fault, I think. She never sleeps over, although she'd probably like to, because she's always got either ballet or church in the morning and M's mother doesn't want to have to come get her from here. Also, I think M. likes to sleep as late as possible. But actually I'm glad because she seems to think that sleeping over means staying up as late as possible. Lots of kids have moved on to the idea that you can sleep over at someone's house, then get up and go do something the next day. You can go to bed at, say, 11, which is later than usual, but still semi-reasonable. Maybe it's because she has a lot of family in the area, so they do a fair amount of taking care of her -- whereas lots of us are scrambling for childcare and have been forced to have our kids sleep out, now and then, on a school night, which means going to bed at a reasonable hour. I think a lot of it, though, is her sort of compliant nature. Other things about her: she won't talk to anyone but Maddy at this camp they're at. Maddy's not exactly social butterfly, but she does talk to other kids. Also, whenever you give her a ride anywhere at all she wants to get ice cream, and she is quite a pest about it. I guess it's because they never ever have ice cream at their house. To me, it seems better to have ice cream at your house if by not doing so you'll make your kid a complete pest to anyone who ever drives her anywhere. But I suppose we all have our different philosophies.

I really do like her. She's beautiful, not that that should matter, but somehow it doesn't hurt. Also, I've known her since she was 7, so I've sort of seen her become more beautiful, which also endears her to me. But she sure is an odd kid -- well, I guess she just seems very very young.

And now, thank god, it's Friday. E. is going away to camp, so with any luck we can get N. home and let her sleep for many many hours. Maybe we can go to the beach or something.

Okay -- that, really, is all.

out of print - new releases

find me! - 2008-02-12
where I've gone - 2008-02-07
Where I've gone - 2008-02-05
where I've gone - 2008-02-01
New - 2008-02-01

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