The Good Fairy

Amelia is in first grade. She is smart and beautiful and is such a good reader. Everyday I am amazed at what she is capable of reading. In fact, tonight, she is in my bed and she is watching me type this, trying to keep up with the words that I'm typing. I don't think I'm ready for her to know that I talk about her to all of the internet. So, I'm typing as fast as I can, but it's not really working :) So, she may know about it sooner than I want her to. Back to her reading...I'm always amazed at the words she is able to sound out. I'm not sure why...I know that my theory is that I have worked in the special education field for twelve years and I have no idea what a typically developing reader looks like. Amelia may very well be an average reader, but in my eyes, she's a genius!! So...when she came home from school the other day with a chapter book from her school library, I was stunned. Really? A chapter book in first grade? She admitted to me that she couldn't read a lot of it, but her friend did, so she wanted to try. And we are reading it...together. I love those times. The chapter book is called BELLE THE BIRTHDAY FAIRY. It's a story about some goblins who steal Belle's birthday charms and birthday parties all over the world are ruined. Two human girls join Belle in helping her find the missing birthday charms. It's a cute story and we are 2/3 the way through the book. Tonight, we finished reading our section for the night and I close the book and told Amelia it was time for bed. Amelia looked at me and said, "Mommy...just one mroe thing..." So, here's our moment tonight: Amelia told me that it would be amazing if there were really fairies. She said how sad it was that fairies weren't real and that she wished they were. She asked me what I would do with a fairy if they were real. I laughed and told her that I would use my fairy to clean my house for me. I asked her what she would use her fairy for and Amelia told me that people are greedy and that they always want something from a fairy. She would only want them to turn her into a fairy so she could help other people. She just wants to hang out with the fairies and be their friends...not make them do something for her. Boy, did I feel like a jerk. My poor fairy is working her wings off and Amelia's is eating cookies and drinking tea and having friend catch up time. But, to have the plans of a child! Why do we have to grow up? Why do we have to make our priorities cleaning the house or working or cleaning the yard? Why couldn't my first answer have been, I just want to hang out! Too many opportunities are missed because we are too busy. Too many chances to be with friends and family are sucked away by the need to mow the yard, or clean the house, or pay the bills. And although I understand the drive to make all those things happen, wouldn't it be a better world if we were able to, without thinking, say that I just want to hang out! I just want to sit with you. I don't want to work or make you work or use you in any way. I only want to sit and visit. To take time and know what it's like to be in your shoes and help you out. Not expect anything in return. When I started this blog, I knew that I would have funny stories to share about my daughter. Quite often I'm in the work room at my school laughing with someone about something that Amelia said, or something that Emerson did. But this blog has become so much more than that to me! This has given me an opportunity to truly listen to my daughter. To listen to her stories and see her thought processes and hear what she is really saying. And holy smokes, she is even wiser than I thought! So, my goal for the time being is to want to become a fairy! I want to be able to be with people for the sake of learning about them, and just being with them. To take the time to just hang out. To not expect people to do things for me, other than to sit and share time together. Amelia and I have already been doing that, and our time together is so much richer! I hope that you are able to do the same! Don't work your fairy to death! Invite her in for a chat, for those are the moment that will count in the end!