You know she's had chickenpox this week, well she's not been feeling too great and not had much energy so she's had a tendency to get into bed when we play. The other day Giorgio and Dominga went out for an hour or two before dinner to go and visit Giorgio's dad in hospital. So I was left to play with Clari in her room.
"You can say me a story on my back?"
This was something she liked to do. She was lying in bed and then I had to make up a story and 'illustrate' it on her back. So there was a story with Pupu the penguin and his magic hat. Only halfway through, Clari fell asleep. I stopped the story and waited.
I waited about five minutes, and then she stirred. She wasn't interested in playing anything else and wouldn't leave her bed, so I carried on with the story. She fell asleep again.
I sat at the bottom of her bed contemplating what to do. I'd tried to wake her up but it didn't work and she was now starting to snore like a baby rhinoceros. For about 15 minutes I sat at the bottom of her bed twiddling my thumbs, not really sure what to do. Eventually I got up, went and got my Italian exercise book and a pen and sat back at the end of her bed. I was just making some notes and I didn't leave her bed so I'd be there when she woke up to continue playing.
She stirred again and looked down at me.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Italian homeworks, while I wait for you to come back and play!"
But she still wasn't interested and went back to sleep.
About half an hour later she woke up again. Part of me felt sorry for her because she had a really bad fever and was sweating under her covers.
"Good morning.." I said to her, "Did you have a nice snooze?" She didn't reply.
She lay there for a bit, shuffling around uncomfortably. I heard the front door go and, "Ciao!".
"I think Mum and Dad are back," I told her. She still didn't reply.
Suddenly she starts to cry.
"What's the matter?" I ask incredulously. One minute she's fine, and then the next she starts to cry?
She gets out of bed and walks down the hallway, down the stairs into the kitchen and into the arms of Dominga. I follow her, like, what the hell is happening exactly?
She's wailing to her mum and dad in Italian so I can't understand a thing. I then catch 'italiano'. Oh right. She's crying about something I have (or haven't, I'm still unsure) done. Dominga then takes her into the bathroom to clean her up a bit and I'm left in the kitchen with Giorgio.
"Jennie," he says, "I'm not very happy. You're not supposed to be doing your italian when you're with Clarissa. You're supposed to have your attention on her."
"I know," I said,"But she fell asleep! I tried to carry on playing but she didn't want to. What am I supposed to do, just sit on her bed in silence?!"
"She's not supposed to fall asleep because it means she doesn't sleep at night, which is a problem for us. You're supposed to be active with her."
"But she's ill! I can't help it if she gets straight into bed and then wants to me draw a story on her back! She didn't want to play anything else!"
Unbelievable. What exactly had I done wrong?
Giorgio spends so little time with Clarissa he clearly doesn't know how stubborn and difficult a 6 year old can be. Like seriously, if she doesn't want to do something, we don't do it. Simple.
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