Scrapes and tattle-tales and more

Scrapes
Kylie insists on telling me about her scrapes and bruises over and over day after day. And she usually does it in a whiny voice. "I have this boo-boo and it hurts" she moans. "I know darling; it will fade soon", I say again and again.

Yesterday, after hearing about her scrapes for the upteenth time I said, "Kylie, I'm right here playing with you and giving you all my attention. You don't need to complain about your boo-boos over and over to get me to interact with you. I see you and I'll always take care of you." To which she replied, "I'm going to go slide now."

Woosh...right over her head. But I felt better after I said it. I just keep telling myself that it is a phase and that it will pass.

Tattle-tale
Kylie is a bit of a tattle-tale. As we are playing at the playground, she will often shout, "He got in front of me!" or "She bumped my back and pushed me!" or "He's not sharing!" Geesh. I'm glad girlfriend is out there speaking her truth but it can sound a bit obnoxious. And usually the kid she just ratted out doesn't want to play around her anymore and Kylie doesn't understand why.

So do any of you know of any books or shows that address the undesirableness of a tattle-tale? Please share them in the comments. I would love some back-up material on that issue.

School and playground dynamics
Kylie has amused us over the dinner table talking about the three Katherines in her school. There is "Big Katherine" and the two "Little Katherines." "Big Katherine" sounds like the leader of the playground and when Kylie talks about her, I can't help but think about the scenes in the movie "Hope Floats" about the girl, "Big Dolores". Anyway, Kylie really wants to be friends with all three Katherines. Some days, she gets to play with them. Other days, they shun her and she's heartbroken about it.

Kylie still loves to play with the boys. I can tell when she has chosen to play with them because her shirt will be covered with mulch when she gets in the car. When she plays with the girls, she talks about playing "Ariel and Ursula" or "Snow White and the Queen". All these games are essentially "chase me" games.

It's quite interesting to hear about the playground dynamics. There are a few clear leaders from Kylie's point of view. And also some trouble-makers. And the rest of the kids kind of bounce around between them; some doing there own thing and some following the leaders. It all makes me chuckle and shake my hear or stoke my chin and say "Very interesting."

More
Two last things to report is that Kylie has started running on empty tennis courts. Racing with kids or running by herself, she loves the flat course and running on all the lines.


And girlfriend loves to climb up slides. Probably she loves it because I only let her do it if there is no one else at the playground. She will smirk at me and announce, "There isn't anyone here so I get to climb up the slide."


Little stinker.

Here's a movie of Kylie singing Puff the Magic Dragon. Kylie likes to close her eyes when she sings.

Here are the lyrics if you don't know them and want to follow along.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea.
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee.
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff,
and brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff

Have a great weekend everyone.