her name is kaitlin, with a "k"
she was a petite little thing, seven going on seventy with skin the color of milk with a dab of strawberry jam stirred in it. her hair was baby fine, like silk thread the color of roasted almonds. she and her surrogate foster mom stopped by my parents' house the day after thanksgiving. that was the first time i had ever seen a white child within the foster care of a black family. turns out the family she officially lives with went on vacation for the holiday and didn't take her cuz she got into alot of fights with their biological daughter. what utter bullshit. if the kid is a part of your family, you take her with you. siblings fight all the time. leaving her behind firmly establishes the belief that you don't think she's your "real" child. i think people like that shouldn't be allowed to have foster kids.
anywho, kaitlin walks into my parents' kitchen with a white plastic bag. i asked her what was in the bag and she said it was a puzzle. i asked her if she wanted to put the puzzle together and she said yes.
initially she was a little hesitant. i figured it was because she was in a strange place and didn't know me. i just started speaking to her softly, making sure i always made eye contact with her. i also had to make sure i wasn't putting the whole puzzle together, as it was obvious she only wanted assistance. after about thirty minutes, she started talking to me without provocation. she was definitely strong-minded, that's for sure. i asked her all the things you ask a kid when you want to make them feel at ease...what's your favorite color, favorite subject at school, stuff like that. by the time we had finished the puzzle, she was looking around for something else for us to do. i told her we should take a photo of our accomplishment, so i went upstairs to get my dad's camera. it wasn't until i got to his room that i realized she had followed me upstairs. i gave her the camera and we headed back downstairs. we took about four photos. she took a couple of those photos, too. it was cool watching her look all serious as she angled the camera for her shots. how do kids learn these things???
after we finished, she starts jumping excitedly and exclaims she wants to play a game.
i search around the house and find an old monopoly game. she didn't really know what it was about, but it had disney characters on it, so she was cool with it. after we picked out our metal pieces and distributed the money (which was basically me telling her "i need six of the green papers, two of the gold ones, etc.), we got around to playing the game. needless to say, kaitlin is gonna be a business tycoon when she grows up cuz she had scooped up most of the property by the end of the game. it was so funny, cuz she couldn't read that well, so when she landed on a property and bought it, i had to tell her to look for the card with the picture of a particular disney character on it. we had a blast, really.
i had to start heading home, as it was getting late. that's when kaitlin's powers kicked in. she asked me to read every card on the monopoly game, including the property cards. then she was running around looking for something for me to read to her. it was obvious she had kicked in with the delay tactics, but i wasn't mad at it. when i found a couple of books upstairs, i sat down and read to her. meanwhile, when she noticed i was getting to the end of the story, she'd pick up another book and toss it on my lap so there was always at least two books on my lap for me to read to her.
the girl had me cracking up, cuz eventually i had about ten books on my lap, including a dictionary, an encyclopedia volume, and the bible. she had no clue what she was putting on my lap, she was just tossing books there.
eventually linda (the surrogate foster mom) told kaitlin it was time for them to leave. kaitlin grabbed my waist and held on so tight i thought she would snap a bone or something. when they got to the door, she ran to me and hugged me again, then said she wanted to see me again sometime. i gave her one of the books i had read to her and told her it was a done deal, cuz she had to bring my book back.
when she left, it was like a little glimmer of sunshine had just left the room.
anywho, kaitlin walks into my parents' kitchen with a white plastic bag. i asked her what was in the bag and she said it was a puzzle. i asked her if she wanted to put the puzzle together and she said yes.
initially she was a little hesitant. i figured it was because she was in a strange place and didn't know me. i just started speaking to her softly, making sure i always made eye contact with her. i also had to make sure i wasn't putting the whole puzzle together, as it was obvious she only wanted assistance. after about thirty minutes, she started talking to me without provocation. she was definitely strong-minded, that's for sure. i asked her all the things you ask a kid when you want to make them feel at ease...what's your favorite color, favorite subject at school, stuff like that. by the time we had finished the puzzle, she was looking around for something else for us to do. i told her we should take a photo of our accomplishment, so i went upstairs to get my dad's camera. it wasn't until i got to his room that i realized she had followed me upstairs. i gave her the camera and we headed back downstairs. we took about four photos. she took a couple of those photos, too. it was cool watching her look all serious as she angled the camera for her shots. how do kids learn these things???
after we finished, she starts jumping excitedly and exclaims she wants to play a game.
i search around the house and find an old monopoly game. she didn't really know what it was about, but it had disney characters on it, so she was cool with it. after we picked out our metal pieces and distributed the money (which was basically me telling her "i need six of the green papers, two of the gold ones, etc.), we got around to playing the game. needless to say, kaitlin is gonna be a business tycoon when she grows up cuz she had scooped up most of the property by the end of the game. it was so funny, cuz she couldn't read that well, so when she landed on a property and bought it, i had to tell her to look for the card with the picture of a particular disney character on it. we had a blast, really.
i had to start heading home, as it was getting late. that's when kaitlin's powers kicked in. she asked me to read every card on the monopoly game, including the property cards. then she was running around looking for something for me to read to her. it was obvious she had kicked in with the delay tactics, but i wasn't mad at it. when i found a couple of books upstairs, i sat down and read to her. meanwhile, when she noticed i was getting to the end of the story, she'd pick up another book and toss it on my lap so there was always at least two books on my lap for me to read to her.
the girl had me cracking up, cuz eventually i had about ten books on my lap, including a dictionary, an encyclopedia volume, and the bible. she had no clue what she was putting on my lap, she was just tossing books there.
eventually linda (the surrogate foster mom) told kaitlin it was time for them to leave. kaitlin grabbed my waist and held on so tight i thought she would snap a bone or something. when they got to the door, she ran to me and hugged me again, then said she wanted to see me again sometime. i gave her one of the books i had read to her and told her it was a done deal, cuz she had to bring my book back.
when she left, it was like a little glimmer of sunshine had just left the room.