Friday, August 31, 2007

"Somebody will see my ear"

This morning, Maia said she didn’t want to go to school and cried when Kristina said she had to go. This was in bed. Maia had climbed in with us during the night, as she always does.

Mais wasn’t communicative about why. Said something about Boltyn pushing her down. Boltyn is one of the two preschool classmates who went to Hokulani with her.

Getting the hair done this morning was a big scene. "I don't like it, Mommy. But I don't like it, Mommy," she cried, again and again.

Then she quieted down and was okay at breakfast.

On the way to school, she had started to cry again.

“Is it about your ear?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said.

“Did Boltyn make fun of your ear?”

“Yes,” she said.

“You know why, Sweetie. He’s afraid people won’t like him. So he makes fun of you.”

She was still crying. “I don’t want to go to school,” she said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Somebody will see my ear,” she said.

“Everybody will see your ear, Sweetie. But they will forget about it. You’re funny and pretty and smart and sweet. People like you.”

We were getting close to the school. “Paper, Mommy,” she said. “I don’t want anybody to see I was crying.”

When we got to the drop-off at the school, all the kids detailed to escort the kindergarten kids to class were gone. We were late.

“Go with me, Mommy,” she said, crying again. And so Kristina went.

This was the morning of August 22nd, the third full day of kindergarten.

Later that day, Kristina sent an email to her teacher. The next day her teacher showed Maia's ear to her classmates so that they could see it and ask questions. That day, when Kristina picked me up from work, Maia was passed out in her car seat, her mouth open and her back arched in the way it is when she is in deep sleep.

So brave, this little girl.

John, Friday, August 31, 2007

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