Thomas!!!!

I am finally sitting down to write about Michael's weekend. His Thomas weekend. It was a lot of money, a lot of rip offs, and most of all? A lot of joy.




We drove down the day before seeing Thomas so that we could ensure Michael saw Thomas in the morning when he was fresh and happy.

We met my parents for lunch in Strasburg, PA...the crazy grandparents drove from Ohio to experience "Michael's moment." (as Andrew kept calling our weekend).

We went to a farm playland, and bounced and slid and mauled baby chicks and drank $4 lemonades.

Then we went to our hotel. We had pick one that had a tremendous pool experience, so that Andrew and Lily would have something...just in case Thomas didn't rock their world. The pool was amazing...but Michael just might have enjoyed it the most out of the 3 kids. Daredevil. Then the kids had dinner in bed...a delightful swing on the popular breakfast in bed concept.

Downside to the expensive hotel? They placed us in a room overlooking the atrium. Where a wedding reception went on until 10 or 11. Loudly went on. My tip? Don't stay at a Doubletree...even if the pool is cool. Or at least ask if they have an atrium for events and then request to be far far away from it.

The day finally came. All we heard all weekend was, "Now I ride on real Thonas?" We had the first ride of the day...so Thomas wasn't quite ready yet. We got to see the other Strasburg Rail Engine...which was pretty cool.

We sabotaged a conductor on his way to work. He had a very cool handlebar mustache and was so friendly and nice to the kids.

We acknowledged Father's Day a few hours late. Nothing says "I love you!" to the dads in your life like packing them in with emotional toddlers and a huge blue train.

Here's the moment we first saw Thomas up close and chugging down the track. I swear, if you went to a Justin B. concert with a hall full of 12 year old girls...the reaction would be the same. All these toddlers were screaming and jumping up and down and crying and yelling out "THOMAS!" It was hilarious.

My Andrew was patient and enthusiastic and never complained a second. He was a good sport about letting Michael get his way and I just wish I had taken him when he was 3 and loved Thomas.

They did have some cool things for him to do. Like pump this thing down a track. See? I learned lots of technical trainy terms this weekend!

Lily was less enthusiastic and a bit whiny. She was excited to see Thomas the first time, but when we were pointing him out again later on, she said, "Yea. I already saw him." Thomas has never been her thing.

But she got into the spirit a bit. She was very kind to Michael and even let him pick the movie in the van because, "This is Michael's weekend."

Here we are riding Thomas. Michael has just felt the train start to move.

Andrew enjoyed the train ride too. We all did. But doesn't he look about 12 years old in this shot. Eerie.

Lily was an angel on the train. It was cool and breezy and put everyone in a good mood. Too bad it was ridiculously short. We honestly paid more than $1 a minute for this train ride. My dad was calculating how much money they were making each day. Disgusting. And yet? I have no regrets because of how much fun we all had.

There were other little train rides too. Not nearly as cool.

All in all, a successful little trip. We left Thomas and ate lunch at a silly little restaurant in a caboose...that was right next to the train tracks. Michael was giddy each time Thomas went by. As we drove home, he must have said 4 times, "I had so much fun riding real Thomas." And when I was posting these pictures just moments ago, he started reliving it again. "I love riding real Thomas!" Now I just feel like I should plan little weekend trips for the other kids. I'm thinking Hershey for Lily ;)

PS. Dude. I hate blogger the last month or so. Seriously? Could blogging be less fun with all the glitches and technical issues to deal with? Each time I blog it is something different. I can't hit publish. The pictures download with an entire page of space between them. No spacing between anything. Can't link. Stops to save every 5 seconds and messes up the type. Spell check that only works in one area and then gives you no suggestions for any misspelled words. Are they just trying to get rid of everyone?

Endings and beginnings

Let me just say that for the record, Andrew's first grade teacher is a genius. The kids had 2 1/2 days of school this week. What in the world would you do with that time? Wasted. Not for this teacher. She created a Flag Day performance and spent last week teaching them their lines and patriotic songs and facts about the American Flag. Then she invited parents to come and watch...and had 2 performances so no one would miss. One on Monday and one on Tuesday. Genius. We will miss Mrs. C. Her 32 years of experience teaching will be a hard act to follow next year.

Here's Andrew back on August 30th. The day I locked us out of the house. -sigh-

Here we are on the last day, June 15th. I really wanted a similar shot and pose for the last day of school. But I waited too long to go out and take it, so Andrew ended up missing the bus. -sigh- I really need to get it together.

So today started S____n Summer Camp. Basic structure is less screen time. Positive feedback jars that can earn them cool rewards. More reading, more playing, more crafting, less vegging in front of tv, less fighting, less laziness. That last one is for me.

Day 1 was successful, I'd say. The marble jars were great. Michael got a marble each time he went potty. He didn't wear a diaper all day and even went to Target without one (I forgot). No accidents, AND he asked almost every time. No prompting necessary. The kids earned marbles by cleaning up, by playing nicely together, and by random acts of kindness to each other throughout the day. No marbles are given if a child asks for one. No marbles are ever taken out of the jar. Prizes include getting a treat from the ice cream truck, staying up an hour later, going to AC Moore and picking out a craft, $2 to spend at the grocery store on anything they want, etc. Ideas are welcome, peanut gallery.

One of our first activities was to make puppets out of their faces. Each kid posed for 3 shots of just their head, trying to show different emotions. Samples:

I printed them out on white computer paper, cut out their heads, and glued them on the end of Popsicle sticks. We took turns putting on plays with their head puppets. A huge hit. I'm sure we'll do it again as the summer goes on. We'll probably get Jeff and my heads involved and maybe even Shadow.

We went outside to paint our toilet paper tubes/future safari binoculars. I kid you not...it was fun! We have passed some kind of a threshold in the house where painting is fun. Everyone sat and painted and shared colors and no one freaked out about getting paint on their skin and they kept the correct paintbrush in the correct color and I don't think I yelled or started sweating or anything. Miracles. After we painted our toilet paper tubes, it was going so well that the kids just continued painting masterpieces:

Once finished we let them dry. They had blown all over the yard, and we lost one of Michael's initially. Andrew being the amazing big brother he is, quickly traded with Michael and took the monocle for himself. (5 marbles for that one...) I stapled the tubes together and added string and Voila! Safari binoculars. We went on a little safari in our backyard, and the kids had a blast! And no one got a tick! Success! I of course forgot the camera for that part, so the kids posed for me in the family room later:

While we were painting, Michael suddenly had to pee and asked if he could go in the grass. I don't know where he got the idea, but perhaps it is deep in the DNA of the male that it is cool to pee outside? Anyway, he was all excited about his act of maleness and Lily speaks up from the picnic table where she is painting, "Great. You peed in the grass...like SHADOW DOES." Ha! You tell those icky boys, Lil'!

It was a nice day. I am TIRED. The kids don't miss tv...yet. Andrew and Lily played for the entire time Michael was napping. They played pretend for 2 hours. Heaven. And in the morning they were totally absorbed with a board game. The only problem is...Michael. He wants to play with them DESPERATELY...but he's not very good at it yet. He gets too rough and has a short attention span and is, you know, three. So our challenge this summer is going to be to include Michael but not let him ruin the older two's fun. Should've had 4 kids...that's the hidden answer. ;)

Tomorrow we have a playgroup in the morning, and I have to pack for out trip to see Thomas this weekend. At some point I should go and get some food for when my parents come back with us from Thomas. And everyone will be re-learning how to shop together. It's been a while since I've done food shopping with 3 kids in tow. Yippee!

A week without Lily

Sunday we parted with Lily for the week. She left Bald Eagle State Park with Grandma and Grandpa and we went on home. I had grand plans for great one-on-one time with Michael and doing fun things with just 2 kids. We ended up doing virtually nothing. Ugh.

Things that thwarted my plans:

--heart troubles over the weekend led to a doctor's appointment Monday, lab visit Tuesday, and cardiologist appointment Friday. Childcare was found for 2 out of 3 visits. At the lab, Michael entertained the other patients by saying things like, "Red is for lemonade" (on the water cooler) and "You need to go to the doctor" (to the woman asking him questions about his name and age). I am probably just fine, by the way. I have a bunch of tests scheduled for the end of the month, so obviously they are not worried about me keeling over and dying yet.

--Heat, my God, the HEAT. It was in the high 90s for much of the week, preventing any park adventures. Also preventing me from going to museums because there is nothing I like less that entering a car after it has been sitting in a parking lot in 100 degree heat. Also, Andrew's school had early dismissal on Thursday because they don't have air conditioning and it was dangerously hot.

-- The boys don't really know what to DO with each other. Lily seems to be the glue. The idea lady. I had to kind of teach the boys how to interact. And they did. But they didn't have nearly the fun times that Lily ensures. I mean, there was a lot less screaming. But there was a lot more tackling and ball throwing and rough play that led to injuries. No one pretended to be a cat or a Pokemon. It was a weird week. Michael came up to me a few times a day and said, "Where my best friend Luly?" Kind of sad and cute.

-- I borrowed season 5 and 6 of Grey's Anatomy from the library. So every afternoon and evening I was sucking into the soap opera drama of it. Meaning...no cleaning or projects were accomplished. I've never watched the show, and I really enjoyed the melodrama. But I think I'm over it now. Oh! And I read a book. Not a good one. But I read it. Very unproductive.

-- I decided that while Lily was gone I was going to hard core potty train Michael. We had no diaper on whenever we were at home. It went...okay? He is definitely ready. And he is definitely NOT ready. So. I don't really know what to do next. He will not ask to go if he's wearing a diaper, but he frequently goes potty when he is not wearing a diaper. Underpants feel enough like a diaper that he also has no problem going in those. So commando is the only way we have success. But it still isn't fool proof. Or should I say, Poop proof. Exhibit A:

This happened minutes after he'd successfully gone potty on the potty. Apparently he wasn't done. And he stepped in it with his shoes and walked through the house to get Jeff and I in the family room. He stood in front of me and said, "Ma. You got to come see this. I poo on the floor." -sigh- I hate potty training.


All in all, despite the craziness and the whining and the stubborness...we just aren't right without Lily. It's very Jerry Maguire. You know...she "completes" us.

And the boys were so happy to see her. She jumped out of the car and first ran to Shadow. Ouch. Then Michael ran out yelling, "My best friend!" and Andrew tackled her in a hug. And they ran in the house playing like a pack of puppies. A few minutes later we found them like this:



Just watching tv cuddling up on the couch. What a blessing to have kids that love each other. I'm so glad they have each other!

Bald Eagle State Park

We went on a mini-vacation with Jeff's parents this weekend. To Bald Eagle State Park. We stayed at the inn. I have been trying for 2 days to embed links on those...but D&!n Blogger.

The inn was beautiful and fabulous. The park was scenic and lovely. We had ideal weather. And almost ideal children. It was a wonderful weekend.


The patio off the back of the inn. Overlooking Bald Eagle Mountain and PJ Sayers Lake (I think it is called that). Notice the grills...that's where we made our Saturday night dinner. Steaks. Tube steaks for the kids and yummy steaks for us.

Views from the patio.

There were bald eagles nesting on the far shore of the lake in front of the inn. They had telescopes set up on the balconies so you could see them. We saw two babies (huge!) and the adults with their regal white heads. Amazing.

One of our excursions on Saturday was fishing. Lily loves fishing. Well, actually, she wants nothing to do with the actual fish. But she likes picking out the worm and casting and reeling in her catch. She is uncharacterisically patient while fishing.

Andrew also loves fishing. He is also a bit too chicken to touch the fish but he is patient and calm about the whole process. I think he empathizes a bit too much with the fish and the worms. Like his mother.

Andrew's bass.

We don't have any pictures of Michael fishing because he was too impatient. We'd get his line cast out and he'd throw down the pole and yell, "I wan go fishing!" To which we explained this IS fishing. This is it. Then he'd throw a little screaming fit. And when one of his siblings would catch a fish, he screamed, "But I WAN GO FISHING!" -sigh- Did I mention he didn't sleep so well the first night in the hotel?

We also went to a sandy beach for a picnic lunch. There were dead fish everywhere. This was possibly the highlight of the trip for Michael. He talked about the dead fish all the time. (apparently they lower the level of the lake a few weeks ago, and the change in pH is killing just this one kind of fish).

Another one of Michael's favorite things were the bird footprints set in the concrete sidewalks. Simple pleasures. Andrew riddled the naturalist with questions about birds and eagles and bats and a millipede that he found on a walk. The naturalist was around quite a bit throughout the weekend, coming to talk about the eagles on the balcony of the inn, leading a nature walk, and giving an evening talk about bats. Andrew drank it all in and LOVED it. He did cry a bit about the bats (they are dying in vast numbers from a white fungus)

All in all, a fabulous weekend. Thank you, Linda and Paul! And I hope you are enjoying Lily...since you kidnapped her away after the trip. It is strange around here without her.

Our weekend, our week

I hope you all had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We certainly did. It has become our tradition to have a metric ton of mulch delivered on the Friday of the long weekend. And so we spent much of our days doing yard work while the children played around us. Andrew and Lily were in a pretend play nirvana...honestly entertaining each other for hours at a time. Michael was just happy to be wandering around in the dirt, finding "pie-der wehs" (spider webs) and helping move the mulch around in the wheelbarrow.

We bought a bigg-ish inflatible pool that took all afternoon to inflate. The kids played in it so long it was well worth the chest pains.

We ate outside several nights. Kids sitting around the picnic table, still dripping from the pool, shoveling food in because they are so hungry. Dripping ice cream all over themselves and then rinsing in the pool. Going to bed tired and happy.

Michael is having some issues with sunscreen, I think. I bought a gigantic bottle of Target brand sunscreen last year that I never opened. So last week I cracked it open and slathered it on my kids several times a day. Fast forward to Michael scratching huge sores open on his back and chest. Ugh. Since stopping the sunscreen, he seems to be healing. Oh! And he has a huge plantar's wart on his second toe, which we are slowly and painfully removing with drops. Try keeping a band-aid on that bad boy as he plays for hours in the hose. Ugh.

This morning, we are back to normal. Except that Jeff just left for Texas. For the week.

Today Andrew has school and Michael has speech. Tonight Andrew has his very last baseball game, which will likely go late...and I won't have the option of leaving early to get the littles to bed. Oh! And it is supposed to be 90 degrees and humid or something. Good times.

Tomorrow we are hoping to go downtown to a park while Andrew is at school. He has chess and it will likely be pizza night. A pretty low-key day.

Thursday, we have a make-up gym class in the morning and shopping and planning and packing and cleaning the house will be happening for our weekend trip. I also need to go to the bike shop to pick up our bikes from being tuned up. I've never used the bike rack before. Should be interesting.

Friday, Jeff will arrive home around noon. I'll drop Shadow off at her foster family and pick up Andrew a bit early from school so we can start our drive to the state park where we'll meet up with Jeff's folks. We will have a fantastic weekend of boating, hiking, and hanging out with family.

What's your week look like?

In a sentence or less

1. Is there anything cuter than a 3 year old helping mow the lawn?

2. Still (not) photogenic

3. What Andrew did for most of the baseball game he went to with his school for family night.

4. Lily moves on to the 4 day 4's program at her pre-school with an adorable musical production.

5. Upon seeing my latest book sitting next to our recliner, Jeff exclaims, "Just looking at a book that big puts me in a bad mood."

6. My latest book is Roots, by Alex Haley.

7. No I have never seen the mini-series.

8. I ran 20 minutes this morning, despite being convinced that the only way I would make it home from such an undertaking would be in a hearse.

9. Jeff is going to be gone for most of next week and I'm not even blinking about it.

10. We had the most beautiful family evening last night with the kiddie pool and sprinkler and hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and ice cream and all.

11. Except for the part where Andrew sulked up at the top of hill, a.k.a. "tick alley", because we wouldn't let him body slam his brother and sister at the bottom of the water slide.

12. It is now established in the neighborhood that I am the stick-in-the-mud mother with a house full of un-interesting activites.

13. I need suggestions for music to run to, keeping in mind that the music I tend to like does not really work for exercising.

14. Have I mentioned my love affair with Phil Collins's music?

15. Add "hopelessly uncool" to #12.

How much longer?

How much longer will my biggest boy cuddle with me during family movie night?

No, wait. Don't answer that.

Creative Parenting

Last week marked the end of the class that I took with Michael, Creative Parenting. It was a fun little pre-preschool...for ages 18 months to 3 years...an hour filled with arts and crafts, play time, circle time, snack, and songs. It is amazing how much the teacher fit into an hour class...and equally amazing how it matched the attention span of the children.

Here's Michael waiting for class to begin.

First you do arts and crafts. Michael was the speed champion in this area. If there was no paint for him to smear his hands in, (liquid glue would also appeal as a second best) he wanted little to do with the craft. The one on this day had those paint dot thingies. He took about 2 minutes and then ran to the next room to play.

This is the second step...the toy room. There are toddler toys strewn about the room for the kids to play with. A kitchen set, a doll house, cars, building blocks, puzzles, light-up noisy toys, you name it. When the time is up, all the kids have to clear the room of toys...because this is where we have circle time/snack time/the rest of the class. It is an amazing thing to watch 8 two year olds clean a room of toys with little to no tantruming.

One of the toys is a little mailbox. At the beginning of the year, Michael would bring me a letter and I would "open" it and read it. It always read, "Dear Mommy. It is time to tickle Michael." And then I would tickle him. And he would run off and find another little plastic letter and bring it back to me to read..."Dear Mommy. It is time to kiss Michael on the ear." Etc etc. A few weeks ago, Michael started reading the letters to ME. Nothing cuter than hearing his little voice, "Sccccooo sccccchooo (ripping open the letter)...Dear Michael, Tie to tickle Mommy. Tickle tickle tickle." Love him.

After we cleaned up the toys, it was circle time. We recited rhymes and sang songs. Here the kids are gathering with Miss Maryanne to sing 5 Little Monkeys. After the song is done, they each get a little finger puppet monkey to bring back to Mommy's lap and exercise with. Very well done.

Here's Michael and his two "teachers"...they had a mock graduation from the class since it was the last day.

Here's the whole class. No way could anyone have gotten a shot where everyone was facing forward. Can you find Michael?

He really has changed so much since we started this class in September. I think he's going to have a lot of fun in pre-school next year. He's just really acting like a kid lately. For example...

Yesterday morning, I was talking to my mom on the phone while Michael ate breakfast. He all of a sudden called out, "Mom? May nee tah to me." (Memere needs to talk to me). I of course handed the phone to him and he proceeded to tell her about our stink bug problem and what he was eating for breakfast. Very cute. What can we say? Memere needed to talk to him ;)

It just takes a little threatening...

So I sent out another e-mail to my contact at the agency for Michael's speech...and I amped up the desperate tone a bit. I Cc'd anyone and everyone whose e-mail address was found on their website. The problem with all of your advice to just speak to another supervisor, or to go to their boss...is that I have no idea who any of those people are. I have one phone number and one e-mail address.

Anyhoo, I'm pretty sure my e-mail must have sounded like my next step was to visit their offices with a pipe bomb or something. I sent the e-mail at 6:30 am.

At 7:05, I got an e-mail response from one of the people I'd Cc'd. She said, "I can tell you are frustrated. I am not involved with pre-school speech, but I'll make sure this e-mail is forwarded to the appropriate person. If you have any additional problems, feel free to contact me again." See? I must have sounded like I was going postal...she doesn't even deal with this issue and she was trying to talk me down ;)

At 8:15, I got a phone call from a man who is the scheduling coordinator for speech services. He gave me the name of the speech therapist who would be calling me. If she hasn't called me by Friday (tomorrow), he instructed me to call him back. Of course, he only works on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. He also sounded a little snarky when he said that according to Michael's paperwork, "We seem to owe Michael 2 1/2 hours of missed therapy time. That will be made up during -sigh- our vacation." I mentioned that I wasn't so worried about making up time, just about starting at all. He said, "No, no, we owe you this time so it WILL be made up." Like I'm the difficult one here.

-sigh- It is Thursday afternoon and I haven't heard from the speech therapist yet. I also forgot to ask where she is located. Hopefully she is closer than 30 minutes away. If she ever calls me in the first place. I have a feeling that this supervisor man and I will be getting to know each other better. Oh! And! While I was picking Lily up from school, my original contact left me a phone message telling me that she's been trying to get a hold of people to find out about scheduling a therapist for Michael. So she is apparently not in the loop that this other guy already contacted me.

Whatever. This is so incredibly awful. I am so grateful that Michael is not severely disabled. Because Lord knows what kind of hoops I'd have to jump through to get occupation AND physical AND speech therapies. Ridiculous.

Why do I...?

Why do I find it so difficult to sign my children up for swim lessons? I am so lazy. I found lessons at our local high school's pool for the summer, but you have to drop off the forms in person at the pool between 3 and 6 pm during the week. I don't know where the pool is, so it would mean wandering around a high school with 3 children. So perhaps they won't ever learn how to swim because I'm too intimidated. Also? Don't want quite know how to get all 3 into lessons, since I still have to go in the pool with Michael and Lily is petrified. -sigh- Too bad they won't magically figure out this skill on their own.

Why do I feel the need to point out obvious things when leaving a phone message? Like when I leave a message for a mom that I know pretty well, I'll say, "Hi! This is Giselle S----, Andrew's mom." No s--t, Sherlock! How many Giselle S's is my friend likely to know? Or, "Hi, I'm calling at about 5:00...that's 2:00 your time." No s--t, Sherlock! Do you really think your friend can't figure out the 3 hour time difference?

Why can't I get ANY RESPONSE from our Intermediary Unit (the agency responsible for providing Michael with speech services)? It has been 6 1/2 weeks since Michael's IEP meeting. I e-mailed my contact 3 times and left her 2 phone messages, which resulted in one e-mail that basically said she'd sent my info on. Last week, I went to their website and pulled the e-mail of the director. I sent her a note begging for any information if she couldn't provide some action. No response. Nothing. Nada. I have no other names or numbers. Do I contact my local representative next? Let him know that a government agency is denying services to a child with an IEP? I have no idea where to turn next or who to talk to. Why won't they just send me a note explaining that they don't have enough therapists, or they're waiting for more spots to open up at the end of the school year, or ANYTHING. So frustrating.

Why do I think I can teach Andrew to play piano? We inherited an electric piano last weekend, and everyone is really excited about it. It was going to be one of my projects for the summer with Andrew. Except that we run into the same problem as always. There are 2 other children in the house. And the only time I have alone with Andrew is after Lily goes to bed...and I'm pretty sure he'll be too tired and grumpy to practice at that point. I suppose I could put her in front of the tv while he plays or something...but the sound of the tinkling keys will inevitably bring her in. I think we may have to find a teacher for him...other than me. I can help him practice with Lily around, but I'm not sure I can instruct him. Homeschooler I am not.

Why do I think I can teach Andrew to ride a bike? Ditto to argument above. We get weekends. Otherwise, Jeff is at work and I am trying to run down the street holding on to Andrew's bike seat, while Mike and Lily fight over the 4 other trikes that we have and roll uncontrollably into the street. -sigh- I think I am probably qualified to have just 1 child.

Why do I start these blog entries without any good material to fill it?

The annoying neighbor

We have recently welcomed a new neighbor with children just Andrew and Lily's ages and genders (G and A). It is fabulous. Playdates are spontaneous and often short. The children get along. They are respectful and kind and the kids have genuine fun. Dare I say a dream come true?

But there is another girl, H. She is homeschooled and 10 years old. She is wanting to play with our 4 year olds every day. In fact, I think she must go to my neighbor's house every day, because now when I call to see if A. wants to play, H. is always there or always comes over with her.

I feel bad for H. She is obviously a very social girl, and I don't know why she is being homeschooled, but it is hard on her. She was in the public schools until January or February, and she was always so friendly and social as she got on and off the bus. I can tell that being home is difficult. She apparently only gets schooled in the mornings, because she is wandering the neighborhood starting just after lunch.

The thing is? I don't really want H. playing with Lily and A. all the time. When they are alone, Lily and A. play very very well. They take turns being bossy and controlling. They are thoughtful of each other in a way I didn't know 4 year olds could be. But H. clearly favors A., since they play more and I think because A. is a lot more sophisticated than Lily (in the music she likes, her knowledge of pop culture, etc). So when H. is involved...they basically ignore Lily. Which is really irritating when they come to play at our house. A. and H. traipse through our house playing with our toys and literally don't even respond to Lily. Lily is so desperate for playmates, she just kind of pathetically follows them.

It is beyond irritating. And H. just doesn't get the hint. I've asked her to go home...she comes back 30 minutes later. She is persistant and has the attention span of a fly and gets into stuff that the little girls wouldn't. Like using my big extra supply of bubbles as "tea" while playing outside instead of water or nothing.

Yet? She's not actually doing anything wrong. She's just being a kid who plays with much younger children. She is the ring leader naturally, since she is SIX YEARS OLDER than her playmates. And now that she is a permanant attachment to A., Lily's basic choice is to not have a neighborhood playmate or to be ignored and mistreated by an older girl.

So I don't know what to do. Logically I know that summer vacation is coming, so H.'s older friends will be home...perhaps she'll ditch the younger girls for more appropriate friendships. Logically I know I can just make playdates for Lily with little girls outside the neighborhood like I did before A. moved in. Logically I know that this is a learning experience for Lily...to learn how to navigate complicated girl relationships...to know when to stand up for yourself, when to be quiet and put up with things, and when to let friendships go.

But she's 4. And she doesn't know how to do this yet. And I'm really annoyed.