Day 2

NoJoMo Day 2

Alan was kind enough to take Pippa to school for me this morning and give me a bit of a break. Of course, Pippa got it into her head that he would also be picking her up and made herself anxious. Despite the fact that before they walked out the door I told her I would see her at 2 when I picked her up.

I worry about her sometimes. She worries a lot, gets herself worked up a lot. On Monday she got a flu shot at school. I didn’t tell her until that morning because while I didn’t want it to be a complete surprise, I also didn’t want her worrying about it for a week. I even went to the school so I could be with her for the shot. She screamed like the poor nurse was sawing her arm off with a rusty steak knife. It’s utterly horrifying. I don’t even know what to do about it.

She’s been encountering some teasing from her gymnastics classmates lately. Yesterday I could see it, although I couldn’t hear what they were saying. It seems to be primarily one little girl. She was talking to Pippa and they went back and forth, then Pippa stuck her tongue out and the other girl went to the coach, who came over and talked to them both. Pippa burst into tears for a minute, but recovered quickly, and then the coach talked to the other girl. According to Pippa she told them they were only allowed to talk about gymnastics. Pippa, sweet supportive girl that she is, was cheering the other girl and giving her thumbs up when she was practicing. Pippa told me that the other girl insisted that Pippa’s name does not mean “friend/lover of horses,” even though it does. So that’s just weird. Last week apparently the other girls were calling her small. Which she is compared to the other girls in her group. But she’s also the youngest in the group and she’s on the tall side for her age. I suggested that she just focus on the gymnastics and not engage. If Ella teases her, she needs to go to the coach. I don’t really know where it’s coming from. It started last week and up until then they’d gotten along well, always happy to see each other. Maybe something is going on with her that’s making her act out, which I also told Pippa. I reinforced that she should be kind and patient, but not to accept being treated poorly and go right to the coach. Hopefully they can work it out and be friends again.

~Liz