Here is the problem: Betty and Betsy's parents do not speak English. It's not even like they speak Spanish - it's Vietnamese, so I can't even muddle through it. Betty or Betsy is always calling and asking Claire to come over, so I take her over there. I have to assume that it's okay with parents, and also have the children tell me when to pick her up. Today the answer was "four fifty o'clock." After some internal debate, I finally decided that 4:15 was more likely than 4:50.
So Claire came home today and announced that Betty and Betsy's mother doesn't like her. She was quite matter of fact about it, the twins told her. She said it was okay, because not everyone has to like her. She said the twins' father likes her though. I really wish I had Claire's self-confidence. If, at six years old, my friend had announced that her mother didn't like me, I would have been devastated. I would have stressed over it and wondered what I had done. Not Claire. Or at least not that she's saying.
It is surprisingly hard, as a parent, to hear that someone dislikes my child. I feel quite bad about it. I am trying to look at it objectively, that as a Vietnamese woman, Claire would be very foreign in thoughts, ideas and culture, and this might be very difficult in a home still very Vietnamese. In other words, I am trying not to take it personally. But since I cannot communicate with the family, I may very well be offensive myself. Who knows? I guess it's not worth stressing over.
Okay, so here's Joshua's list (there are actually two, but here's the shorter one):
Spi Gear
Slat Lake Temple 3-D puzzl
Hampster = boy= blak
Hampster cage
Meaga Cart
Star Wars book year by year
bunny
hamdrgrs
fake gun and handofs = tow (I think he means two, he wants to handcuff Claire and James both)
evrey lego star wars set
Notice I have preserved his original and adorable spelling (yes, only a mother could think that's adorable, but I sure do!) Now I am off to amazon to find the puzzle, as I promised him this summer I would get it. I forgot, he didn't!
Isn't it amazing that you can send them into the bathroom to brush their teeth and find them in there, goofing of, half an hour later, still unbrushed, because they "forgot". But I told Javi that Toy Story 3 would come out after school ended last year, and I told him this months before school got out. On the last day of school he announced he was ready to go see the movie. Took me awhile to figure out what he was talking about, because I had completely forgotten about it. I just don't understand how their minds work...
ReplyDeleteLove the spelling. :-)
I'd have a hard time getting offended by someone who named their twins Betty and Betsy. I'm just sayin'... :-)
Hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas!