Little Miss Empathy

I am realizing that Andrew was a very unusually empathetic pre-schooler...or else Lily is a cold cold emotional fish. Or a little of both, probably.

We went to a playdate this morning, at the home of a little girl in Lily's class. Or, as she puts it, "My best best best girl Sara." She talks about Sara a lot, so you'd think that they were best buds. But I have yet to see them even ACKNOWLEDGE each other...much less act friendly...much less be the BEST FRIENDS that Lily claims they are. Still...I have to remind myself that when Andrew was in this program, he didn't even know anybody's name.

Back to story...Sara's house. Lily high-tails it to their playroom, where she proceeds to ignore everybody...unless they try to play with her, in which case she gets highly protective and possessive of her borrowed toy. Standard Lily playdate behavior. Andrew and Sara proceed to play very well together...as if they play date was set for those two. Michael entered a kind of nirvana, what with all the new choking hazard and places to climb to and the buttons on computers to touch and the giant bouncing rocking horse...Lord have mercy, I have seen Michael's heaven, and this was it.

Lily and Sara managed to spend 2 hours in each others' company not saying two words to each other. Best best best friends indeed. Then Sara tripped and landed face first into a window sill...cutting her lip pretty significantly. She was bleeding everywhere, crying (although not hysterically...which impressed me), and her lip was kind of flapping in a way that lips should not flap. Andrew was by her side, asking her if she would like a popsicle (our standard ouchie mouth treatment). Luckily, Sara's mom HAD a popsicle, because Sara thought it was a great idea. As Sara sucked away on her frozen treat and her mother debated taking her to the doctor or the ER, I was putting away toys and trying to get my crew out of the house so Sara's mother could take care of the situation.

I mentioned to Lily that we had to leave because Sara hurt her mouth. Poor Sara. I asked Lily to go tell Sara thank you and tell her she hoped her mouth felt better. Lily sulks over to Sara (Lily wasn't ready to leave), and mumbles thank you as she eyes Sara's Popsicle. Then Lily comes over to me and says indignantly, "Mommy! Sara won't share with me!"

She has a little way to go in the being a good friend department. ;) But I suppose that is why we have play dates and send them to pre-school in the first place, right? We just aren't born with empathy.


(as a side note, Lily had her very first dentist appointment yesterday. She did awesome and let the dentist brush her teeth and do a fluoride treatment. Because that is what I told her would happen. I forgot to mention the little mirror. Lily REFUSED to open her mouth to let the mirror in. He even let her hold it and told her to put it in her mouth to see what it was like. She pursed her lips together and held it up to her cheek and shook her head no. Stinker. Then he picked up a toothbrush, and she opened as wide as could be. Pick up mirror...mouth shut. -sigh- )