Playdate Diplomacy

Next year YG's class of twenty is going to be split up, with half the kids going to one classroom and half to the other for fourth grade. Because of this, YG and a friend decided they needed to hold a party this summer. Because of course, these kids are never going to see each other again, except maybe at lunch and twice a day at recess, and in the morning and in the afternoon and...

Anyway.

So YG and her friend cooked up a party. Actually just a cookout (although the damned fog is rolling in, and it may be a bit brisk for outdoor eating when the time comes). And thus began a huge phone campaign, with literally dozens of calls back and forth. It looks like we'll have eight kids--two boys, six girls including YG. And in a huge coup for Our Side, two of the girls coming are from Chinese families. This is Big. In the two and a half years that we've lived here YG has repeatedly asked for playdates with these girls, and been assured that someday it would happen--but it hasn't. Partly it's a language thing, as many of the parents of her classmates don't speak much English. Partly it's a cultural thing. Frequently it's a logistical thing: in order to get two girls here, we had to pick up and return them to their homes, since their parents have to work or have other commitments. At this moment we have the two Chinese girls, one girl whose parents are from India, and YG, out in the yard playing Twister very loudly. We're waiting the Latino kids (two boys, another girl or two) to show up. I'm hoping they arrive in time to eat before we have to start ferrying children home!