We've had events today. But we're done, and home and I'm sitting on the bed writing a blog post and cooling off. We first went to my son's school for a play date with the Lower Elementary families. There are two classrooms of first through third graders, and this was an opportunity to have them play together while the parents of the first years had an initial conference with their child's teacher.
My son initially didn't want his sister to go, because he said we always spend time with her and never do anything with him. This is interesting because he never wants to do anything with us because he's off with his friends for the duration of any event. But he was correct, we spend time with his sister. Firstly, because she doesn't know anyone, but mostly (I suppose that's 'secondly') because she can't see and she needs help navigating the outdoor learning environment at the school.
For this event, there were fewer students, and my son did have something he wanted us to do with him. He's been playing four square a lot with his classmates. I remember playing this ball bouncing game of four people a lot when I was a child. We had him teach us the rules and then played a good bit with him and his friends, all rotating in and out as they were eliminated or rose in rank in the game.
My daughter wanted to play, which was nigh impossible because you have to see a ball to be able to bounce it accurately into another square—or even to hit it in the first place. We took turns standing behind her, holding her arms and playing as a team. She became petulant when she wasn't getting to be the King of the square, even though a lot of us weren't either. I let her play with some other children who worked better because she was less likely to complain to them.
After the school event, we came home for a brief period before going to the Greek festival where we were meeting my daughter's Braillist from kindergarten. During that short time at home, Madison, our next-door-neighbor, came over with a baby turtle in a container. She let my daughter hold the turtle, who was a bit bigger than a quarter and very friendly. It was nice because my daughter could touch it and feel the arms, head, shell, and tail. My daughter liked knowing what the animal felt like.
We had a lovely time at the Greek festival, as is any time with Mrs. Aagaard. She bought my daughter a waist scarf with coins sewn into it so she could practice being a belly dancer. My daughter currently has it on and has been running around the house, jingling all the way.
The doorbell just rang, and I answered to find Jay and Claire with another animal in a box. This time it was a lizard they'd caught in the woods. My daughter walked outside, held her hands out in a cupped fashion, and said, "can I see it?"
What she meant was, "can I feel it?" but they didn't understand that. I told her the lizard, unlike the turtle, moved very fast, and if they pulled it out of the cage, it would dash and be gone. I told her it was about the size and shape of her finger.
I think my daughter was sad, but she doesn't show it when things like this happen. I'm sad for her, though. She wants to experience things, but so many things in life can't be "seen" in a way that she can make sense of them. She has to listen to descriptions and do with only words to understand what a thing is like.
The Big Boy Update: My son really likes Mrs. Aagaard. He's already made plans to go with her to The International Festival in two months. He told me about it as we were leaving. Hopefully he'll take the rest of us along.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: My daughter got upset today at the end of the play date and said she hated one of the girls. We were driving this girl home and my daughter didn't know she was standing beside her when she said it. She further said she was dumb and mean. So my daughter wrote her an apology note. Her father thinks it might have been that my daughter ran into his daughter and was embarassed and was reacting that was as a result. He could be right. The note my daughter wrote Amelia was very touching. She does like her and wants to be friends. Her parents said she wasn't upset and that they all understood.
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