HAPPY NEW YEAR!! :-)

I know it's the 5th of April!

I've been kinda busy.

One would think that someone that's been as busy as I SAY I've been, would have more to blog about. Well, I DO have a lot to blog about!

Ok, a "lot" is kind of a stretch! :-)

Here's the thing. I think I have a lot to blog about. But once I come up for air sit down, I come to the conclusion that I'm basically, a pretty boring run of the mill person. What I mean is, I just don't think people wanna read about this AWESOME sale I found at JoAnns or Hobby Lobby. Or how the copier wasn't working AGAIN at Jayla's school. OR...how I made this really yucky delicious dinner for my family.

Know what I mean?

But for the record, I DO find really good sales at those places :-).  And the copier probably wasn't working at the school..at which time I showed amazing self control by not cussing that thing straight out in front of God and all the little chirens bursting into tears.

However, since I have ya'lls undivided attention....
chirp
chirp
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I do wanna bend your ear for a second. (what exactly does that mean? I may need to look that up) ANYHOO...

I have a situation...well, really, my daughter, Jayla has a situation.

First of all, what do you notice that's kinda odd in this photo? Other than the crazy dance that Jayla is doing!

Do you remember that movie, Single White Female? Or what about, Roommate?

Ok, well due to Jayla only being in the 4th grade, it's not QUITE as bad as the psycho girl portrayed in the aforementioned flicks. But if this isn't nipped in bud with the quickness...I see a sequel in this kids future.

I'm just sayin...

Here's the thing. My daughter is very blessed to have many friends...in may different areas of her 10 year old life. She's got her soccer teammates, "personal life/family" friends, and of course her school friends. So the chick is not lacking in BFF's. Fortunately for her, she doesn't have to do much, if anything, for people to want to kick it with her.

NOTE: I'm not saying any of this about my daughters friendships because I'm her mother and I think she's the awesomest a good kid. Simply pointing out the obvious as it's been pointed out to me by others.

NOW, this kid in her class...let's call her...um, Shirley :-)...you know, to protect the innocent. Shirley has been around for a couple years. However, this is the first year she has been in Jayla's class.

A little bit of background on Shirley. Last school year she told Jayla... and I quote, "Jayla, I don't want to sound mean. BUT, your mom is kinda fat!". OK...this about tore Jayla completely outta her frame! She was SO upset and cried about this child talkin about her momma for months a couple days. She even said she hopes she's NEVER in her class because she would be angry with her the WHOLE YEAR!

Well, I guess that was short lived. Cuz now they are in the same class and are "friends".

So, back to the here & now. Shirley is very obviously dealing with some identity/insecurity issues. She follows Jayla EVERYWHERE. And is constantly pulling on her and wanting to hold her hand as they walk down the hallway. Jayla, being the kid that doesn't ever want to hurt anyones feelings, just deals with it. But you can tell that it is workin her nerves kinda bothering her.

In the above picture, they were at the 4th/5th grade dance. And that dang child was panting like a puppy behind Jayla the entire night. I happened to be a chaperone at the dance...:-D...so I could see on Jayla's face that she was NOT feeling it. As you can see in the above picture, Shirley is tapping Jayla on her shoulder as she's dancing! REALLY??

Here again in these pictures, she gotta be right there, all up in my girls grill! And do you see that sparkly hat Shirley has on? She told us that she went and got that before the dance because Jayla has one! Seriously? (ok, ok...I know they made more than one!)

Pretty peculiar, don't you think?

Threw this one in just cuz she looks cute :-).

At one point at the dance, Jayla had to escape go to the bathroom. So while she was gone, Shirley comes to me in a panic...with the McCaulley Caulkin hands to her face and everything, saying, "Oh Mrs. Bibbs! I'm worried SICK! I don't know where in the world Jayla could be! I can't find her ANYWHERE!". I told her that if I'm not worried, she shouldn't be. Jayla is fine, she's just hiding from you taking a break.

There are even times I will go to the school and Jayla's class is at breakfast lunch (they eat at 10:30A.M.!) And who's sitting right there? Yup! It's Shirley!  She'll sometimes tell me, "I'm not sure what's going on with Jayla today...she's not really eating her lunch!" Or she'll say, "Don't worry, I've been watching her, she's been eating today!"  

Don't get me wrong, I think it's kinda sweet that Shirley is so protective of Jayla. But why does she have to smother her with that protectiveness? It has been brought to my attention that Shirley doesn't really have many friends. And that she just wants to do everything she can to keep Jayla as a friend.

I will admit, Jayla has handled the situation pretty well though. One day she took Shirley in the girls bathroom and hemmed her up told her that she WANTS to be her friend. But that she has other friends too. She also said that they are "too big/old" to be holding hands in the hallways. Jayla says that Shirley cried and stormed away. But Jayla didn't go after her and let her "deal". Of course, they were friendly again later in the day....and the stalking has started up again!

SO...I said all this to ask, if this were happening to your child, how would you handle it? Is this just a GIRL thing? Would you intervene on your childs behalf? Or would you just let them work it out? I'm torn...