International Sleepover

We have been back to school for a little over 2 weeks now. My daughters are in 3^rd and 1^st grade. We are entering the territory of separate playdates for separate daughters.  The older daughter is at the age where she is being invited for playdates without her sister. This is  completely appropriate and normal. However, my husband swears that he and his brother were best friends and never did anything without the other.

This week, Sophie, 3^rd grade, was invited to a Belgian friend’s house Friday after school for a playdate.  The exchange went something like this:

We are standing in the schoolyard after school. Parents are chatting while kids are having one last go on the playground equipment before being carted off home at the end of the day. My daughter and her friend approach me and the Belgian Mom (BM). 

Belgian Daughter (BD) to BM: Can Sofee come to ow-ah house for playdayt on frightee?

BM: Shrugs her shoulder and turns to me. “Is dat ohkee witchoo?”

I say sure, sounds great. But in my mind, I am thinking little sister has just been left out in the cold. We discuss it on the car ride home.  I really don’t even want to tell Vivi about this playdate because I know it is going to trigger an outburst.

Viv moans, squinting her eyes in pain, “Sophie’s going to Lois’s house? But not me? OH! I HATE it when Sophie gets invited to playdates. It’s NOT FAIR!”

“Well, what if we invite Leon (pronounced Lay-on) over to our house for a playdate?” I suggest.

Leon is the brother of BD. He is in Vivi’s class.

She immediately brightens. “OK Mommy.” Problem solved.

Two days later, I am chatting with BM again when BD and Sophie approach. This time they have another proposition.

BD to BM: something unintelligible in Belgian

BM to me: Lois is asking if Sofee can spent da nyte? Is dat okee?

I say sure, but I know Vivi will be crushed. Even the offer of sleeping in the bed with me can not fix the feeling of abandonment she has when her sister is invited somewhere to spend the night without her.  Suddenly, I remember about inviting the brother for  Vivi to play with. I ask BM and she says it’s OK.

Right now, all is well. Vivi barely acknowledged leaving school without Sophie. I brought her and Leon home and they are both happy. They are playing very nicely. I love the low drama factor when my daughter plays with a boy. I seem to remember having the same low drama, low fuss experience when playing with boys myself. 

They were out in the garden (this means yard in the US) and I heard them talking excitedly about pumpkins. Pumpkins grow all year here and are a main staple. We tried our hand at planting a few but so far, not so good.

I hear Vivi shout: “No Layon! Let’s show my Mom!! She been waiting FIVE WHOLE  YEARS for a PUMPKIN!”  They run inside to get me. I pretend to be surprised.

The small green pumpkin is the size of a large orange. It is hanging on a brown and withered vine. I don’t even know how it still looks so green and fresh.

“Can we carve it?” Vivi asks.

Soon Leon’s mom will come to pick him  up. I hope I can be enough for Vivi tonight. She was utterly shattered when Sophie had a Brownie sleepover at the end of last school year. I had never seen her heart so broken and it killed me.

Her moods can pass like clouds in the sky.  I never know how she is going to react. A strong reaction one day does not necessarily portend the same kind of reaction the next time. Does that mean they are growing up?

UPDATE: When BM came to pick up Leon, Vivi protested saying she would be bored. She quickly asked if Leon could spend the night with her!  Leon is VERY tiny. He is 6 but looks 4. He claims he is not scared to spend the night.

His mom said it was OK so now we have our very own sleepover guest.

UPDATE 2: All went great! Fed them dinner, there is no drama at all. Brush teeth, pj's and he climbs up into the top bunk. He is so low key. We read a story, say prayers and then he says, "I think I feel a bit scared."

Do you want me to call your mom?  He says yes.

Daddy came and picked him up. It was a stellar effort for such a little guy to try a sleepover. I told him I was proud of him and he could come back and try again anytime.

Vivi is now bathing herself so she can sleep in my bed tonight.

Three Scary Vegetables

This weekend, my daughter informed me that her band was messed up now that one of the members had moved back to Lebanon. The band was called The Three Scary Vegetables, and one of the songs went something like:

We're in the soup, we're in the soup,
HOT HOT HOT

She also explained that the members' names all rhymed with potato. One was potato, one is tomato and one was karado (carrot-o).

Stay tuned to find out what will become of the group that is now down to two members.

After homework today, Vivian began cutting out birds she learned to draw, and was determined to make a nest for them. She left a basket outside and the dogs chewed it up, so we fished it out of the trash and used it for the "nest". She has taped the bird pic's inside of it, complete with a picture of eggs as well.

She has made art exhibits of:
1) Cut-outs of fruit, that she glued onto black construction paper and cut out, hanging each one from a ribbon.

2.) A series of portraits of all the contestants and J. Lo from American Idol.

3.) Underwater creature series, one picture of each creature

4) Bird series, featuring artistic pic's of flamingos, ibis, crow, robin, etc.

I am listening as I type to them singing "How will I know if he really loves me?"

Dear Hearts

I am so in love with these little creatures God has given me. They are such loving girls. Vivi tells me several times a day how beautiful I am. She makes sure that I know there is no one more beautiful than me. Sophie came up to me and hugged me today and said, "Mommy, I just needed to tell you that I loved you today."

They began school last week, and Sophie is just the most excited child in the world. There is nothing more she loves than school. And the cherry on top is that she got into the class she wanted, with the teacher she wanted and her best friend is also in the class with her. She didn't want the weekend to come. School began on a Thursday, and then the weekend was here, so it was a short week, which disappointed her.

We had a delightful weekend. Daddy has been home which is a real treat. And we have not done much of anything. Haven't left the house except to go to the grocery store. The girls played lacrosse with Daddy and practiced their archery. We swam at the school pool today for the first time all summer. They did major renovations this summer.  I was thrilled the diving board was reinstalled. Sophie did a great job diving.

An old movie was on Turner Classic Movies called Light on the Piazza. It was about a beautiful girl with a brain injury who acted like she was 10 years old. The girls were very interested in it. Those old movies are great because they have good story lines that are interesting and not inappropriate. I was shocked they wanted to watch an old movie.

I love and adore them so much.