play date

Ella informed me, "My friend Kylie asked me if I wanted to have a play date Friday or Saturday."

"What did you say?"

"I just said, 'Nah.'" I was horrified.

"Ella, think how you would feel if you invited someone to play and they said that to you. Why would you do that?"

"Well," she whined, "I have Olivia's birthday party on Friday."

"And what about Saturday?"

"Saturday I'm reading."

"Reading?"

"Yes."

"All day?"

She hesitated. "Yes?"

"Honey, you can't read all day." She burst into tears.

"But all I want to do is read! READ, READ, READ."

I decided to finish the conversation another time.

Ella brought it up at dinner. "Mom, I don't think you would want me to have a play date with Kylie if you saw her."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because sometimes she wears a pink bandana on her head, and it has a BLACK SKULL and CROSSBONES!" She winced. "I can hardly stand to look at it. AND," she continued, "she has BIKINIS. I don't even like the way it sounds when I say the word . . . bikini."

Lauren stopped pushing the food around her plate to look at me and whisper her agreement, "Neither do I."

So, we had a little chat about how friends might sometimes dress differently than we do, but are still good people.

And we talked about fun things to do with Kylie when she comes over for a play date.