The girl & I have had something of a week.
Sunday my daughter spent six hours at a friend's house after church - a super fun thing until bedtime when all the wacky good times came grinding to a halt and I DON'T WANT TO HAVE DINNER/TAKE A SHOWER/GO TO BED/GET UP FOR SCHOOL TOMORROW/WEAR A JACKET.
Monday there was evening sadness when P was upset about something 8-year-old-important and her brother made a mournful sad trombone sound on his actual trombone; she further lost her mind, he kept poking, and everyone lost out on reading Harry Potter together for the night.
Yesterday as I was heading to have tea with my best friend, P complained that no one will play with her at recess. Now, my girl is not a dancing social butterfly but I've never known her to be rejected by anyone; even the boys across the street will ask her to join them in their hijinx, and not because she's the last resort. I asked why she thought no one wanted to play with her and she explained that others had chosen activities she didn't really want to be a part of; I asked what she did during recess then and got this: "Welllll, actually so-and-so did this with me...I guess it was...okay..." And because that didn't seem to be enough of a tearjerker for me, she added "But then no one [names kindergarten friend group] would let me do anything." Huh. They're all in charge? Did you tell them what you wanted to do? "They just kept talking and didn't listen to me." That is a drag; what did you end up doing? "I don't know. It was fine...Anyway, see you later." She squealed and bolted off as some friends came up the sidewalk.
Today, I asked how recess went. Big sigh; "It was okay, I guess." Did you play with C [a new friend in her class]? "No, she always stays in during recess." How about H [a friend from our neighborhood whom she's known since birth]? "No, she always plays soccer." S [a very close friend since 1st grade]? "No, she says she HAS TO play with Kevin all the time." Why does she think she HAS TO play with Kevin? "Because he's HER BOYFRIEND." Um. [THEY ARE EIGHT] Tell her your dad is MY HUSBAND and I don't play with him all the time. *snicker* What about O [another old friend in the neighborhood]? SIGH. "She always says we have to do whatever she wants to do. It gets really annoying." Understandable. Hmmm. We sit quietly for a minute. "HEY, can we go to the Book Fair?" Life is beautiful.
Fast forward three hours. We had a bunch of errands to run, homework to finish, dinner to eat, and a suitcase to pack for her weekend Girl Scout camping adventure (Book Fair was tentatively a plan if we could get everything done before it closed at 8:00, and there was no mention of it after 5 p.m.). At 7:35 I invited her to come with me to drop off her camping stuff with the troop leader and return some videos. Big fun, off we go. On the way to Blockbuster, she asked if we could rent a kid movie; I answered not today since she will be gone for two days and wouldn't be able to watch it [before we got charged $578 in late fees]. Mild sadness. Then, as we left the parking lot at 7:45, "So are we going to the Book Fair now?" Uhhhhhhh. Technically, we probably could have gotten there with a few minutes for shopping, which is likely what sent her into a galactic crying fit that lasted until, well, probably tomorrow morning.
I love this girl to pieces, I'm just wondering - if things are this nutty now, do I get a pass when she's 13?
