She Speaks

Thank you so much for all of your kind comments on yesterday’s post! My writer’s block seems to have disappeared and I want to apologize to Teach. She felt bad yesterday about the off-hand comment she made about nobody caring if I posted or not. She just meant that maybe no one would notice if I took a day off here and there, not that I should quit writing because no one was listening.

My biggest fear about missing a day or two is that I might never come back. I have precedence for that…I used to be a journal writer with plenty to say. I started when I was in 6th grade and never missed a day until after I was married and my first child was born. Then I missed one here or there and pretty soon I was only writing when I had a new baby. Sadly, I didn’t even manage to get all of their births down. So I’m trying to turn over a new leaf, but sometimes just getting the words out doesn’t come easily.

Today was Scout’s Kindergarten Orientation. We showed up at the elementary school bright and early for Scout (just after 10:00). She was excited but a little nervous. I was counting how many times I had done this before. (I’m in to double digits now.) Whenever I start thinking those sorts of thoughts I try to remember that this is the FIRST time I’ve ever done it with Scout. Her new teacher happens to be one of my good volleyball friends, so I know her well. Even though there were lots of kids and their parents wandering around the classroom, Scout’s teacher sought us out immediately. She had on a happy smile and after greeting me, she said “hello” to Scout. I don’t think she got the reception she was expecting, because Scout stared at the floor and refused to say anything.

This is certainly not the first time her mouth has quit working. Just this past Sunday she was assigned to give a talk in Primary. She worked all morning drawing pictures to go with the fun pioneer story we had pulled from our own family history. She practiced the words and held up her pictures. When we got to the Primary room, she asked my sweetie to be her helper. He had a piece of gum in his pocket as a prize for her hard work.

When it was her turn, she walked calmly to the pulpit. I’m pretty sure she never had any intentions of saying anything, but my sweetie didn’t see it coming. He stood behind her and whispered the words into her ear. She glanced at the handful of kids and half a dozen teachers in the audience. My sweetie continued to whisper louder in her ear, but nothing was coming out of her mouth. He looked up helplessly and I shrugged my shoulders. Then he gave the talk for her. She smiled at the audience when it was over and marched triumphantly to her seat. I have to admit it was a great talk, my sweetie can tell an amazing story as you all know. When we got out in the hall, he popped the piece of gum into his mouth. He’d earned it!

Last year Scout attended a neighborhood preschool. She knew her teacher well. Four of her siblings had attended the same preschool and all of my children had learned to swim from this same teacher. Yet as soon as school started, Scout clammed up and wouldn’t say a thing. Finally, in January, I took her out with the rest of the girls to sell Girl Scout cookies. We sent her to ring the doorbell by herself. Selling the cookies was important to her. I knew this was our opportunity and so did her teacher. She refused to buy any until she had a real conversation with Scout. Three boxes of cookies later, they were chatting like old friends. I assumed our problem (at preschool anyway) had been solved.

Several months passed and Curly, Baby Doll and I attended preschool graduation. The graduates were sitting in chairs all in a row. Scout said something to Curly across the room and the little girl next to her turned in her chair. She looked at Scout incredulously, “You talk?!” Scout just smiled. She never had any intentions of saying anything. Too bad I didn’t have a piece of gum.