Pico DiPaolo

On Sunday, after a friend’s birthday party we were talking about what kind of party to have for Elise’s second birthday in January.  Joelle asked if she could invite a friend.  We said yes, but also told her that a lot of kids her age will be there because a lot of Elise’s “friends” have older siblings.  One sibling we mentioned, Hannah, got her going, “oh good! Hannah is my best friend in the whole world…” and went on about how much fun they have on the playground, etc.

Thursday night, the day before her 6th birthday, she said “can we invite Maya to my next birthday party?”

“When you turn SEVEN?” I asked.

“Yeah, she’s my best friend in the whole world, we are SUCH good friends!!”, she squealed.

“I thought Hannah was your best friend,” I recalled.

“Well, she went to California and has been out of town so I’ve forgotten ALL about her.  Yep, completely.  Now it’s Maya.”

This reminds me of how she would be mad at me, even at age one when I would return from a short (3-4 day) business trip or even if I would get home after her bedtime the night before so it seemed like I had been away.  Out of sight out of friend with this one.

I haven’t written in a bit and decided to share a slice of what our mornings are usually like. I now see a new value in these blogs because we may go back to scan them for proof of Joelle’s gifted and talentedness. I actually didn’t really think she was until Chris came home armed with information from the seminar. Turns out, I think Jojo actually does fit a lot of the descriptions. If she is, she totally got that from daddy because I’m just your typical “high achiever” student.

Back to the morning. Joelle has been super, super cranky. She’s wiped out from school. I could go more into the GT stuff, but I won’t. There may be a deeper reason behind it, but whatever, she’s grouchy this week. She woke up this morning and Elise and I were both already at the table eating. She’s been waking up at 7:12, almost every morning. Which gives us about 25 minutes to eat and get ready. I just try to let her have every ounce of sleep she can get.

She screams from across the room, “I DON’T WANT SAUSAGE PATTY. WHY CAN’T YOU ASK ME WHAT I WANT?” I calmly reply, “because you’re waking up really late and I have to have your breakfast ready or you won’t get to school on time.” “I WANT CEREAL WITH MILK. (big scream.)” Elise is sitting in her little chair, mouth open. Joelle walks to the kitchen and pulls out the milk and bowl. She then walks to the cupboard and almost loses it when she says, “I can’t reach the cereal.” Again, calmly, I say, “it’s on the counter.” She lets out a tiny giggle, grabs it and returns to the table. I offer to help pour the milk and she says, “yes, please, mommie.”

The moment is past us and Elise lets out an audible display of relief. She kicks into her high humor mode where she starts making faces and shaking her head. She likes to also put her head down on the table sideways. Without fail, it always makes me laugh…. and it makes Joelle laugh.

I hope our family dynamics do evolve into this. I know Joelle will always be emotional and high drama, she just came to us that way. I like that Elise tries to break through all that and make us laugh…. and her timing can be impeccable.