My Haylee

Oh my sweet Haylee girl.  She is 12 and a half -well almost- and she is growing like a weed.  Only about 2 inches shorter than me!  She will catch up for sure.  She really is growing emotionally too but there is of course some pre-teen drama that happens when you are 12 and at times things seem much worse than they actually are.  Last night I was at a stake meeting and I came home to find out there had been an incident with a neighbor kiddo who is about 5 and whose mom does not watch him at all so he often plays down at our end of the court.  Well the kids were all out playing baseball in the yard and this boy decided he did not like how Haylee was holding the ball so he hit her in the leg with the whiffle bat.  Haylee gets really upset by anyone who is not "following the rules" in any situation she is a stickler for what you should do and when.  So she had a bit of a meltdown.  Anyway, when I got home she was upstairs and still very upset.  Dad isn't as compassionate as mom and sometimes she feels like he doesn't care when really he is just very practical about the situation, I'll admit that is sometimes frustrating to me as well.  :)  As girls we often want someone to be as dramatic as we are about the problem we are having so we can really feel the empathy.  For my sweet pre-teen girl this was definitely the case.  I went up and spoke to her and hugged her while she cried.  It was hard to hear her say "I don't like your calling because you weren't here!" Its hard sometimes to balance church and family and I never want her to feel like I put church before her because I don't, but this situation I am sure seemed to her like if I didn't have the calling I do I would have been home and therefore able to comfort her.  She told me how she cried and cried while holding "Shapes" her stuffed turtle.  I got her calmed down and assured her I would speak to the little boy who hit her (this is the second time, the first time I let it go) and tell him if it happened again he would not be allowed to play at this end of the street.  Haylee has a very large adult vocabulary and often uses big or less common words when speaking.  I love it because it shows how much she reads and comprehends the words that are used by a good writer.  So I had to laugh when after telling her what I was going to say to the boy she says "You should also inform him its UNLAWFUL!"  LOL.  I will be sure to inform the kindergartner that it is unlawful to hit a person.  I am sure that will put him on a path to make better choices.  :)  She laughed too which was a good ending to the evening.   Love that Haylee of mine.