So yeah, I have THAT kid

This is Little One's 3rd week of school. Things started off swimmingly, but have kind of... er... deteriorated.

Here's what happened, as best as I can figure it. Little One's best friend is Kitty Kat. We actually switched preschools so that we could stay with Kitty Kat because our previous school did a mean and horrible thing to Kitty Kat's family. But lemme stay on track here because I could go on and on about that.

One day, when I happened to be co-oping, Kitty Kat decided to run away from Little One on the playground and say "I don't want to play with you." Typical 3-year old stuff.

Except Little One was crushed. She tried to chase her for a little while and then just gave up and came and sat in my lap and cried and cried. Kitty Kat immediately realized she had hurt her friend's feelings and came over and tried to make up. But Little One would have no part of it. The rest of that day was spent tearing Little One off of Kitty Kat, as every time there was no adult looking, she launched a full-scale attack on her. Nobody messes with Baby!

And evidently, the girl can hold a grudge, as the battle rages on. They have moments now where they can play nicely, but as soon as Kitty Kat lets her guard down, Little One reaches out and grabs a handful of her hair and starts yanking. We have talked and talked about it. The teacher has sat them both down and talked about it.

I'm not sure if this is normal 3-year old behavior, or we are starting to see some of the behavioral problems that can arise in Turner Syndrome. Evidently, those things start appearing at age 3. Awesome.

At least Kitty Kat is my friend's child. Someone who has lots of kids of various ages and knows all too well that sometimes your kids behave appallingly and it's really no reflection on your parenting. Right? Or am I deluding myself here? Just shake your heads yes, people.

Kitty Kat has 3 older siblings, so she's quite capable of defending herself should things get even scrappier than they are now. And my friend, God bless her, just laughs. (Unless she unleashes a vicious diatribe against Little One after she hangs up the phone, which is completely within her rights to do, but somehow I doubt it. She's not the vicious diatribe type.)

After we had that great geneticist visit a few months ago, where I felt like there were really no issues on our plate right now, I had somewhat of a buzz kill pediatrician appointment where he was all "Now don't go putting that plate away. There will be more things on it soon. In fact, what's that smudge right there?" (Are you all following this lame metaphor?)

Little One sees a developmental psychologist every 6 months. (Yep, she had her first checkup from the neck up when she was the mere age of 5 mos.) Her next appointment is in December, but I was planning on cancelling. It's a really expensive appointment and, you know, I was feeling all issue-free. Dr. Don't Put the Plate Away, said "Don't cancel the appointment until we see how she does in school. Sometimes things crop up then."

"Oh yeah. Whatever," thought I.

Now I'm wondering if I can move the appointment up a few months. You know, before we get kicked out of preschool. Which they haven't actually mentioned, YET, but I have been wondering.

Maybe she's just not ready. Except in every.other.way, she is so ready. She loves school. She talks about it all the time, has no trouble separating from me, follows directions (except the No Attacking Kitty Kat one), cleans up, pays attention in circle time. She even has no trouble riding in the carpool with other parents, which is more than I can say for my other kids. If she could just keep her damn hands to herself.

Today, as we were getting her ready for school, I tried a little pep talk.

Me: We're going to have a GREAT! DAY! Right?

LO: Wight!

Me: We're going to have FUN! AT! SCHOOL! Right?

LO: Wight!

Me: We're going to eat a YUMMY! SNACK! Right?

LO: Wight!

Me: We're going to be NICE! TO! KITTY! KAT! Right?

LO: eyes glaze over

Me: And NO! HITTING! OR! HAIR! PULLING! OR! PINCHING! OR! KICKING! Right?

LO: glazed eyes slide to the left

I finally got her to say "I promise," although she wouldn't specify what she was promising. I offered a bribe reward for good behavior. She seemed interested in the reward, but pretty non-committal on the terms and conditions.

Tonight is Back to School Night. I can't wait. Here's the bad thing about a cooperative school. When you have That Kid, everybody knows it. They've all seen her try to rip the ponytails right off her best friend's head.

I can see it now.

"Hey, anybody wanna have a playdate after school?"

(thunderous silence)

"Come to our birthday party? Moonbounce? Clown? Magician? No?"

Thank God at least she has a psychologist. I think I may need to get myself one of those.

(photo by Carol Floto)