Mermaid out of Water

As we say goodbye to summer, we are also most likely saying goodbye to the swimming pool as well. The likelihood of our next house having one is pretty nil. This summer has brought many changes, most of them good, but some time consuming and stressful. The boys are living with us full time now, so that means that we have limited time to move into their school district which is 20 minutes away. While we do this happily for them and also for the girls as it is considered to be a bit better than our current school district, this summer has not been the greatest. Getting all the issues and logistics worked out for the move has been much more difficult and fraught than we had anticipated. I'll be the first to admit that I have not dealt well with the stress. I tend to fret about things when it comes to my kids and not being able to get Phi into the new school district before kindergarten started has been a source of extreme stress for me. I know kids are resilient, but I really wanted to make that happen for her and things have just been beyond my control.

So she started kindergarten in the old school district and we've yet to move. In fact if we're not eating or sleeping, were pretty much working on house renovations in order to move. I've been worried about her making friends in kindergarten, and then also worried about leaving those friends and having to start over when we move. The latest drama this week is that her closest friend from preschool has made a new friend and doesn't want to play with her right now. He's the cutest little boy and I can't picture him being mean to her, but her feelings are hurt just the same. I don't like to discuss "issues" on this blog typically, as it is my happy place, but I'm just wondering... isn't it human nature for us to want to be around those we identify with? He's african american and she told me that his new friend has "hair like him," so I can only assume that he is also not white. I've never made any mention of race to Phi and never indicated that any one of us is different than the other. Is this wrong? I never wanted her to have any preconceived notions about anyone and have even gone to the trouble to spell out the word FAT in front of her so that she doesn't call anyone fat at school and make them feel badly.

Sometimes I feel like I'm just flying blind with this parenting thing. I try my best to do the right thing, but now I'm wondering if she's too innocent because I haven't covered difficult topics with her. She really seems hurt that her friend doesn't want to play with her and even wrote him a letter tonight telling him that she misses him. We keep encouraging her to ask a new friend to play, but I think she might be a bit scared to branch out just yet. This is so hard. I just want things to be smooth sailing and happy for all our kids. This is just part of growing up, right? And seriously, who wouldn't want to hang with my little mermaid?

And for a kitchen update, all the granite is in and the dishwasher is currently running. Yay! Tomorrow... wall cabinets. I really hope the next people enjoy all our hard work!

Comments

[hena tayeb]

so cute..

[Ana]

That is so cute! I love your blog, it is so inspiring :)

[Jessica Sutton]

This is so cute!!

Have a great holiday :)

[kelli]

i hope you are doing well!