"Pooh is a little bit shy."

After dinner tonight, we went outside again to play feed the fishes. Then Maia ducked inside to get Pooh.

"Pooh is a little bit shy," she said. "Pooh is a little bit crying."

"Why is Pooh shy?" I asked.

"Hold her," she said. Pooh is usually a she to Maia.

"It's okay, Pooh," I said. "You're safe. You're with people who love you. And it's okay to be a little shy."

"Pretend I'm the Mommy," Maia said. "Pooh is our baby. 'It's okay, Pooh,'" she continued, "'Daddy will take care of you.' Let me hold her," she said to me.

"Are you a little shy?" I asked Maia.

"Sometimes," she said. Holding Pooh, she snuggled in between my legs. Pooh ended up between us.

"Just like a blanket," she said of how the two of us were cradling Pooh between us. "'It's okay, Pooh," she continued. "'You don't have to be scared.'"

It was a pleasant and very encouraging interlude. Gave me a different way of thinking about her problems with participating and with the aggressiveness that her teacher says she was displaying over the last two days.

When we back inside, we had ice cream. I gave her a bite of mine, and she told on me to Kristina, as she usually does. "Daddy gave me too much ice cream," she said.

"Well, you can share it with me," Kristina said.

"This time I eat it," Maia said. And then when I laughed at her, she said, "Stop it, Daddy."

These pictures are from today--from the park, including her beloved swings, then McDonald's and then outside with Pooh. (Hmmm...I could only get one pic to post--I'll try again, later. (This is later. I never could get the other pics to post and just ended up losing a comment. So it goes...))

John, Sunday, August 13, 2006