During Abby's parent/teacher conference last fall, her teacher expressed concern that she doesn't participate in class much. He'd like to see her raise her hand more, volunteer more and contribute more to the small-group book discussions. (I'd like to say this was a surprise, but she seems to be growing into some of the same stupid insecurities that have plagued me all throughout my growing-up years.) He suggested that if she get to know some of the other girls in her class better, she may be more confident in class.
Last week I finally got around to acting on that intention.
Very often when I do something, I do it big, and this was no exception. I sent out an evite to all of the girls in her class, bought a very few supplies, baked some cookies and cleaned furiously.
After school the girls rode home on the bus, and it was highly amusing to see 8 girls running down the sidewalk toward our house. (I timed it so Cora was napping and I sent the boys to a friend's house.) As soon as they got in, dumped backpacks, adored the hamster and washed hands, they sat down to a snack. A very cute one, if I do say so myself. I got the idea from Family Fun magazine, and after a little experimenting, it worked great with homemade pizza dough.
Due to life-changes in my friends' homes, my once full well of child-swap options has rather shrivelled up. I no longer have anyone to trade childcare with to go volunteer in the kids' classrooms. It kills me. I'd love to spend an hour a week in each classroom, but no dice. As a result, I don't know the personalities of the other kids in class: who is a good kid, who to avoid, who to invite over, who to avoid...you get the idea. This party was a great way to easily and quickly size up the girls that Abby talks about every day after school. It was an unexpected bonus for me.
When they were finished with their heart-shaped goodness, I steered them into the bathroom to wash their hands again then let them loose in the living room to make valentines. Cardstock, sequins, scissors, markers, glue, pompoms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, construction paper, doilies...the works!
I learned something great about this age: I can give simple instructions and step back. No once did I help anyone with anything. I actually returned a few phone calls in the kitchen while eavesdropping on the girls in the living room.
I also learned that some things stay the same over the generations. Jinxing someone will still render them mute until their name is uttered.
After the whirlwind of third grade creativity was beginning to wane, I redirected them back into the dining room to decorate sugar cookies.
Frosting in many hues: pink, purple and white, sprinkles, non-pariels, red hots, little shapes...lots of yummy fun, and a few nibbles.
I really thought that the girls would frost a bunch and take them home, but no. With only a few exceptions, they frosted and binged right there, fighting over the red hots. One girl had a particularly long attention span and frosted 14 cookies to take home, even after the rest of the gaggle had migrated upstairs to torment the hamster again. (After washing hands, of course!)
The most frightening thing about throwing parties is down time. Down time in which energy is high and control is low. Fortunately, with this party only lasting from off-the-bus o'clock (2:45ish) to 4:00, we only had about 5-10 minutes of chaos. And most of that was handled gracefully by Maxo, our unwilling but very loved rodent.
In all, it was a great day.
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