Lanie, the little nut-in-training
Livejournal is my dumping ground. But, at home, I actually make a really concerted effort to maintain sanity and a positive atmosphere around Lanie. I make that statement up front because the following story shows that I might not do a terribly good job at it. However, I do know that kids are remarkably perceptive and Lanie is particularly sensitive to mood shifts.
Anyway, last night Lanie wanted to sleep in my bed. Since it's been such a weird week (with the trip to the Valley - see previous post, missing school, then missing more school because of Good Friday, going to a concert this weekend, and then Easter Sunday), I figured her schedule was out of whack and told her that would be OK. So she lay down in my bed and I came out to the living room.
About ten minutes after she went to bed, she called me in there. She was crying. I went over and hugged her and asked her what was wrong.
"I was thinking of all the worst things that could happen to me," she told me, still crying. (Sad, isn't it? That's what I do!)
I immediately projected what she might have been thinking about, but knew better than to suggest things and asked her if she could tell me some of them. I told her that if she said some of them out loud, it might make her feel better. She tried to tell me several times but kept crying. Finally, she came out with, "I imagined that I forgot everything I knew and everyone called me Cuckoo."
I was worried we'd have to have a death talk or something. But she was really worried and I sympathized with her that bad thoughts are really scary. And we imagined together some good thoughts that she could have before she went to sleep.
And just a few minutes ago, Lanie's school nurse called. Lanie's feeling sick to her stomach and running a low-grade fever. They're going to keep her at school for a bit and call me later if she doesn't feel better. But now I realize that she wasn't worried about a shadowy "sometime" that she might have forgotten everything. She was worried about going back to school after missing so many (4) days and she was afraid she'd be behind. Poor baby.