I am now number four in Nat's affections behind Cole and Babysitter J and now also--bumping Cole out of the top spot--J. Nat's new BFF made in three short days of school. End of story. J. is nearly six (Nat's class is 3-6-year olds) and she likes Nat, too. They ran around together at the ice cream social this evening, completely inseparable, both complaining loudly when it was time to part. It helps that I really like J's mother, M, too.
Nat had school for two hours today, tomorrow she bumps up to the full 2.5. Today, Selina stayed home with J. and I took my computer to the playground and wrote while Nat was in school. About half-way through the class, a crew of middle-schoolers showed up and started playing softball right in front of the bench where I was working. So I finished working and watched.
It's a small school with lots of attrition as the kids get older, and this was probably most if not all of the 7th and 8th graders (who are all in one class together), on two softball teams, with one teacher pitching and one playing third base.
If you've read Operating Instructions, you might recall the bit in which Lamott says her reluctance to be a parent was largely about the fact that her child would someday have to be in middle school. It's the very definition of the worst possible moment of childhood for most people, right? So here before me were all these middle schoolers, playing this game together and it was just lovely. Some were athletic, some were arty, some needed 10 pitches to hit the ball (and got them), one hit two home runs one-handed (he volunteered to handicap himself), some hit for those afraid to hit, and let them run instead. One team was up and down in three at bats and one team got run after run, but no one kept score and members of teams kept shifting back and forth depending on what position needed to be filled.
I swear it made me wish I was in middle school again. You could just tell that all of these kids liked each other; they all felt like they belonged; they all enjoyed the game even if sports weren't really their thing--even if sports really were their thing.
I can't overstate how good I feel about Nat being at this place.
