Yesterday we had a marvelous BBQ with some friends. Any excuse to make kebabs is a good one, but this excuse was even better than most. These weren’t people that I’d had much contact with, I’d met them once. Howard had met them at a couple of local conventions and corresponded via email many times. After dinner Howard and the dad disappeared into his office so that they could talk about ship designs in the Schlockiverse. I was left to talk to the mom, her teenage daughter, and a pre-teen niece. One of the things I really enjoyed was watching the way this mother and daughter interacted. They were obviously really good friends. They shared all sorts of geekish interests and spent a good part of the time talking to each other while I got to sit quietly and observe. (Note, I didn’t at all feel left out, I was thoroughly enjoying listening to the conversation and occasionally participating.) I hope that I can foster that kind of friendship with my own kids through their teen years.
The afternoon of fun was even further enlivened by Gleek getting stung by wasps. Apparently they’d created a colony underneath the pink towel that had been hanging over the deck rail for a month. The wasp colony had significant objections to Gleeks decision to use the towel. She got stung twice on her arm. We slapped on a plaster of baking soda and water and gave her some benadryl. While I was administering this first aid Howard went out with a can of raid and wreaked Daddy Vengeance on the wasp nest. The first aid seems to have worked because within an hour the stings were reduced to little pink dots.
Interestingly the mosquito bite that Gleek acquired right between her eyes on the day before yesterday began swelling up. By bedtime she looked a little bit like a star trek alien with a nose prosthetic. Howard assured her that even though she looked like a bejoran it was okay because all the bejorans on Star Trek were pretty. This resulted in her refusing to let me medicate the swollen bite at bedtime because she wanted to look pretty. The bite continued to swell overnight and she awoke this morning with one eye swollen almost shut. She has decided it isn’t pretty anymore and she cooperated with medication.
Isn’t it funny how careful you have to be what you say to your children? You never quite know what the effects are going to be.
Yeah. He was trying to make sure that she didn’t feel self conscious. Amazingly she doesn’t even though her face continues to be puffy today. Had this been Kiki, we would be going the paper-bag-over-the-head route. For Gleek anything that gets her extra attention can’t be too bad.
Yes, and that’s another thing… what works for one child doesn’t necessarily work for another. I’m always amazed by people who don’t understand this.
Friends
I just wanted to say, as someone whom is now best friends with her mother, sometimes all it takes is being there. We fought horribly from the time I was 11 until I was 16, and then it just kind of turned around, and we’ve been inseperable since. So even if there are a few bad years, don’t lose hope!
Re: Friends
That’s good to know.