Back to School

Emily attended her preschool full time for most of the summer. However, last week they had a week off so that the teachers could get ready for a new school year. Emily (and Abbie) got to spend the week with Grandma and Grandpa C., who came to stay with us. It gave Emily a chance to catch up on her sleep and to go to the bookstore, which she loves, but rarely gets to do. After a full week off, though, she was ready to go back. Yesterday was the first day of the new academic year, but her teachers, the kids in her class, and the daily routine stayed pretty much the same. She was pretty tired when she came home last night, though. I kept asking her how her day was, but she just kind of stared off into space - too tired to talk, I think.

Other than a new school year, Emily's new routine has been sneaking around the house. I have started thinking of her as my little creeper, and she prides herself on being able to get from spot A to spot B without anyone seeing her. She is particularly concerned about this in the morning when she first gets up. She'll come into the main part of the house, but she doesn't want any acknowledgement. "Pretend you don't see me" she'll declare. She also likes this trick at night when she is supposed to be asleep. The other night I saw her dart across an opening and into the kitchen where we couldn't see her. I actually forgot about it until 20 minutes later when I heard a little noise behind me. I turned around to see a little face watching TV by the back of the couch. Who knows how long she had been there. The other thing she likes to do at bed time is to hide under her covers so that we can't see her. Then when we start talking to the lump in the bed, she'll yell out, "I'm not here."

The flip side of all this invisibility is that when she does want to be seen or heard she is very sensitive about it. If she is talking, she expects that everyone in the room will listen attentively without cutting her off, or finishing her sentence for her. Heaven forbid that anyone starts speaking during her turn. She gets pretty aggressive, declaring either, "I'm trying to talk!" or "It's my turn!" Likely this sensitivity comes from the fact that she is very soft-spoken, and probably has been cut off pretty regularly over the past four years. Poor little thing.