Everybody Needs a Wingman

It's no secret that I'm socially awkward. I am able to fake my way through many situations, but if left to my own devices, I'm hiding in a corner in the back of the room. I'll be sure to curl up in a ball and avoid all eye contact while I'm at it because people. People are yuck.

I came by my social awkwardness the honest way, so I've had lots and lots of years to figure this whole thing out. There are ways I could continue to get better at faking my way through group interactions and conversations with strangers, but HOOBOY have I improved over the years. Slowly, but surely.

The good news about recognizing that particular weakness is that I know I need to cover for it a bit and guide the girls in a better direction. Alexis is already approximately 1349290383205% better at crowds of people, making friends, new situations, and all of the other things in life. Basically, she's a social genius while I'm a rock. I sit there. I'm not even cute when I sit there. I just sit. (Unless she's watching. In that case, I put on my I Can Do This Face and force myself to act like a normal human being. BUT I HATE EVERY SECOND OF IT. Ahem.)

So ... there's this thing. There's this thing where travelling with a baby in tow is basically an invitation for people to talk to you. I adore Miss Mila with all my might, but when strangers come up and talk to me about her, I want to hide.

So I do.

I hide behind my own kid. I busy myself with keeping Mila entertained and happy and OH LOOK! THE BABY GIGGLES! Let's all laugh with her and go on our merry way, PLEASE? Go away? PLEASE GO AWAY STRANGERS.

Hi. I'm not kidding when I say I'm socially awkward.

ANYWAY.

Alexis takes a very different path when she's surrounded by new people and there happens to be a Mila nearby. You guys, Alexis uses Mila as her wingman. I'm not even kidding -- Alexis will pick up Mila, walk around carrying her and smiling until someone asks "is that your sister?" or something like that and BOOM. Suddenly Alexis has a new best friend. She collects best friends like some people collect shot glasses. She has rows and rows and rows of them, yet she cherishes each and every one of them.

How long do we think Alexis is going to be able to use her little sister as her wingman? I suspect this might just be a lifelong thing.

It Can't Be a New School Year Without Photos

One year can make such a big difference. Last year the first day of school was a hectic one. It coincided with Mila's first day of daycare, so it involved a lot of fretting. Were the bottles ready? Was Mila awake? Were all of the diapers and wipes and extra clothes packed? What was Mila going to wear? What time did we need to leave? What was I forgetting?

And, oh yeah, there was a big kid in the middle of it all. That big kid was understandably nervous about her first day back at school.

It all worked out and everybody ended up where they needed to be more or less on time. Fortunately.

This year was completely different.

This year Mila had been away from daycare for a week and a half, but I didn't give a second thought to the things she would need. I already knew she would sleep until Alexis woke her up and, really, who cares what Mila wears? Everything surrounding Mila's morning went as smoothly as one could possibly expect.

And then there was Alexis.

Alexis was awake well before the chickens, assuming she actually went to sleep somewhere between sunset and sunrise. All I know for certain is that she was already awake and in the shower when my alarm went off at way too early o'clock. Early risers can accomplish great things long before the rest of us open our eyes, so not only was she showered and dressed before I was really started, she also had eaten breakfast, sorted and resorted the contents of her backpack, and cleaned her room.

Yeah. Seriously. Alexis cleaned her room before school. Don't ask me to explain it because I can't.

There was no fussing about what to wear.

She didn't want help with her hair.

She wasn't nervous or needy at all.

In fact, she popped in on me to ask if I needed help with anything. Which, YES. MAKE MORNINGS GO AWAY.

She couldn't do that for me, so she woke up her sister and got her dressed instead.

Um, you guys, somehow I have a fully functional young woman on my hands. I don't understand.

History Doesn't Always Repeat Itself

While Mila is over there Kool Aid Man running her way through life, the Big Kid is over here being ... BIG.

You guys, the baby that inspired this site is not a baby anymore. She's a Burgh Fourth Grader now. It doesn't exactly roll off of the tongue, but it's a fact.

FOURTH FREAKIN GRADE.

The thing about fourth grade is that it was a huge turning point for me as a kid. I've been doing all sorts of listening quietly while Alexis tells me how great fourth grade is going to be because she's probably right. For her, it will be great.

For me, it wasn't.

In some ways, the big changes that came the summer before fourth grade should have equated to an upgrade. That was when we moved away from the definitely scary trailer park where a family of four could rent a home for $75 per month. That bought almost exactly the amount of luxury you would expect, so moving away should have been good. It should have been good because we moved to an acre of land and a better trailer just outside of the city. It was property and a home that my parents purchased.

It was sort of the American dream, if the dream includes a house that is on wheels.

Well, that, and a pile of debts that would never be repaid.

ANYWAY.

That move triggered the avalanche that would lead to a giant pile of crap landing squarely on my head. I never quite fit when I lived in North Dakota, and I especially didn't fit in the school district that we moved to. There are a lot of reasons, and some of those reasons are now "friends" of mine on Facebook.

Funny thing, that.

There's a whole lot more to all that happened starting in fourth grade, but it's all tucked in a box and locked in the back of the closet that exists in my mind. I'll drag it out eventually, but for now I'm enjoying the optimism and joy that is the Burgh Fourth Grader embracing a new school year.

It really is going to be a great year.