Child's Play

It’s funny the things children pick up on. Mila notices everything and anything about me that is slightly unusual she comments on. And doesn’t let it drop. At the moment it’s my teeth. I have a gap between my top and bottom teeth so my top teeth stick out a bit. She’s been commenting on this for a while. It was something that I used to be paranoid about but have forgotten about it for a long time. Well now it’s back on my mind. I am constantly reminded about it. ‘You look like a rabbit.’ ‘Why do you stick your teeth out like that?’ Thank you Mila. Now I want braces. I wish I had had braces when it was acceptable. Now I’m just going to have to make do with looking like a rabbit. Before my teeth, it was my hair.  For a start it’s ‘orange’ and by no means is it red like Ariel’s. Well I know that, but when you’re a teenager with the stigma of ‘being a ginger’, pretending it’s red like Ariel’s hair is a nice comfort. But now I’m not allowed to think that. Oh and plus, my hair is too long. I need to get it cut apparently. And before that it was my mole on my forehead. ‘What’s that thing on your head?’ ‘Ahaha, it’s really funny!’ And they just point at it sometimes. Aren’t children wonderful?

But aside from that I’ve been having a wonderful time with the girls recently. Ever since I got back after Christmas something seems to have clicked and I feel a real part of the family. They always want to play with me, they draw me pictures at school, they always associate me with ‘mummy and daddy’. It’s so nice, but it makes me feel a bit sad that I will be leaving in 6 months time and they will have someone else in my place. That’s sad for them to become attached to someone then for them to just leave when they’re so young. I don’t like that one bit.

But a nice story: I was playing with the girls and we each had a little figurine to play with each and I said we all had to chose a magic power for our toy. I had a tiny tiny little red bird and I chose that it could make itself invisible. So after a few minutes of playing I hid it in my hand and when they weren’t looking put it into my pocket. They then asked where it had gone and when I said she was invisible they didn’t believe and said ‘No, make it appear, where is it?’ I said I couldn’t, it wasn’t me who decided. And just at the moment, a bird started tweeting outside! I asked them if they heard it and they said yes and then it started tweeting again! And then they ran to the window, faces pressed against the glass looking for it. At this point I surreptitiously placed the bird on the drawers in front of the window and edged away. I asked them if they could see the bird. And when they saw the bird had reappeared right in front of them, as if out of nowhere, well, you should have seen their faces! Elles m’ont regardé avec les yeux touts ronds et etonés. C’était chouette!