Friends for Annie

For whatever reason, Annie struggled to make friends in Kindergarten and most of 1st grade. I worried when I saw her roam around the playground by herself - usually not even trying to find a playmate. She didn't seem to care, she liked to play in the sand and loved going into the 1st grade playground that had swings (!!). Her teachers worried a little, too. I would always hear at parent/teacher conference that she may need some more social outlets. We put her in dance and girl scouts and tried to find some neighborhood friends to come over. It seemed to be helping, but even her girl scout troop leader said "she really likes to do things on her own, doesn't she?" I figure she may be a loner, but I at least didn't want her to be socially awkward.

Thankfully, she has recently begun to make friends with two kids who I highly approve of . . . A little boy (We'll call him "J") and a little girl (we'll call her "K"). J is in her class at school and I used to walk with his grandmother - he's a sweetheart with a huge imagination. He lives down the road and we've had him over to swim and for meals. He and Annie play "Monster" on the playground. I'm not sure what the rules are (I think they are constantly changing) but there is a good team and a bad team and they "rawr" at each other a lot. Her teacher thinks it's fabulous.

Little K is smaller than Annie (by a lot) but she's in the 2nd grade. She lives a few doors down from us and we are benefiting from her latch-key status. She comes over a few times a week and we do craft projects and make cookies and cupcakes. She reminds me of Scout from "To Kill a Mockingbird" so much. She doesn't like cleaning up messes very much, but I think she is a good little neighborhood friend for Annie to play with.

I'm glad Annie's finally making friends - but there are new rules that come when friends come over. I always need to ask "K" when she needs to be home, and I need to be the responsible adult who tells her when it's time to go home. I also felt obligated to meet her parents (still haven't officially met the dad, but I've met the stepmom) to show them that I'm responsible and not weird. Right now, "K" is only allowed to come over to our house - but mostly because her parents aren't home often and I won't send Annie over to her house with an 8th grade brother in charge.

The "rules" are a small price to pay for a little girl who now talks about friends at the dinner table and drew a picture of "J" when she was asked to draw a picture of her best friend.

Baby steps - but I'm hoping that these baby steps will make it so she can make good friends wherever she is. I know that my ability to make good friends has been such a blessing in my life.