Butterflies and dinosaurs

One of the loveliest things to come out the Faery's school experience so far is watching her new friendships blossom. There is one little girl, N, who she is enamoured with, and N is equally besotted with the Faery. N is beyond adorable and sweet. When the two of them get together, it's like instant fireworks. Alone, they are both fairly quiet kids, but together they bring out something special in one another. They each adopt funny voices, move in comical ways for giggles, and slap each other's butts while cracking fart jokes. They even have nonsensical words that none of us really understand.

Equally great is that I adore N's family. Her parents are very much on the same page as J and I, and they also have a little boy who is a similar age to Miss Pie. Their home is exactly the kind of home we've been dreaming of and they are warm, welcoming people. We've begun doing family hangouts together, which I always enjoy.

Over the weekend, we all hit the Natural History Museum together. There is an ever-changing butterfly exhibit from April to September, where people can wander through as the butterflies flutter about - perfect for little girls. There is also an incredible display of dinosaur skeletons - something J and I haven't really had much of an opportunity to see at museums in Australia. I think of the eight of us there, J was the last one to finish looking at the dinosaurs. Kid in a candy store. And on a creepy note, there were several massive rooms, filled with life-sized dioramas of wildlife in all their taxidermied glory. Good times.

Yesterday, I was finally able to have a go at volunteering in the Faery's classroom - only two weeks before school finishes for the summer, but better late than never, right? I've been wanting to do it for a while but the reality of having an active, destructive toddler have meant I really needed to wait for J to  miss a morning of work to mind her. She's simply not the sort of kid that can be towed along to these things and expected to play quietly.

Anyhow, it was worth the wait. Watching them as they pledged their allegiance to the American flag - lisps and all - followed by a rendition of the The Star-Spangled Banner (man, that song has some bastard high notes to reach) was so sickeningly cute that I briefly forgot my discomfort about the Faery having to pledge loyalty to a foreign country.

Being the first day back after a long weekend, the teacher had them sitting on the carpet and talking about the things they did. N was the first one to talk, excitedly sharing: "I got new glasses! And me and F went to a museum! And we saw butterflies! And we saw caterpillars! And we saw dinosaurs! And we saw a sabre-toothed tiger!" I could hear great gulps of breath between her exclamations.

While I was there, I had a chance to look at the classwork on display, ahead of Open House tonight. The back wall was filled with posters created by each child, with an accompanying photo of themselves. The theme was who they like playing with. The Faery had drawn a picture of her and N, and written I like to play with N evry day. She is nis and prity. I like hr. Further along, I saw N's poster: I like to play with F cuz she is my best frend. I can't tell you how that warmed my heart.

It almost makes me wish I was five or six years old again. Almost, but not quite.