A complicated little girl

It turns out that Maia didn't share her ear.

Tuesday was her first day back at school after the break. On Wednesday, Kristina got a call from her teacher. It seems she and her friend, Carmen, had been eating things out of the rubbish can. My guess is that it was attention seeking by two children who are on the border of the peer group--Carmen is repeating kindergarten.

Kristina asked about Maia's having shared her ear. Her teacher said she hadn't done that. It was made up, in other words.

"Did you trick us?" Kristina wanted to know, when we picked her up.

"Yes," she said. She didn't know.

It was a funny kind of misrepresentation. It wasn't really a lie. She wasn't trying to hide anything from us or protect herself by saying what she did. Neither was she trying to please us.

The most I can figure is that she was trying to please herself. Acting as though she had stopped hiding it. She would like to share her ear, I think. To say, this is part of who I am, and it's not such a big deal.

But she isn't there yet.

John, Sunday, October 14, 2007