Fiona Wants a Laptop

I think Jane and the staff at the Great School in the City really wanted Fiona to forget about her dreams about a laptop.  Apparently the dreams were originally inspired by a conversation with her social worker and have somehow morphed in her mind into us getting her a laptop for her birthday.  In all reality I am not against helping her get a laptop.  The stickler is that the school does not allow students on the school's internet network on their own computer. Therefore, there is no way that Fiona could surf the net on her own computer which was allegedly what she originally wanted to do. 

When she called last night she brought it up again.  I really feel that it is important to try and deal with what my kids want without pretending it doesn't exist.  So I said "gee I bet if you had your own laptop you could use a cool art program like Kid Pix Deluxe and make some neat art for your room."  Thankfully the suggestion inspired Jane who then asked Fi to help write a proposal of how she would care for a laptop if she got one, and also a list of what she wanted the laptop to do.  Surf the net was NOT mentioned by my daughter.  She totally glommed onto the art idea, and also added that she would like to be able to play and record music on it. 

I was impressed by her ability to talk about what she really wants, to take some ideas that were different from her original idea and not freak out about it, and to really clearly articulate her vision.  She has come so far.

We also have tentative plans to visit on Christmas Eve day and celebrate her birthday, possibly with a couple of her school chums joining us. I'll also bring her Christmas gifts and leave them with staff.  As I told Jane later in an email, the conversation just felt good to me.  Not just for what my daughter could say, but for the fact that both she and Jane wanted me to be part of hte conversation.  It was a "mom" moment and I was one proud mom!