Gpa, this one's for you--post edit

On Wednesday nights I leave R1 with the kids and head off to the church to work with the young women (12-18 year olds) in our ward.  Often, both of my babies let me know how displeased they are that I'm leaving.  Today was different, though.  R2 had a nap in the car this afternoon, so I thought it was only fair to R1 to take her with me since she surely wouldn't go to sleep until 9 pm anyway.  It was the perfect night for her to go--we were going to play glow-in-the-dark volleyball.  She brought her little friend (KM) with her, who is quite unfamiliar with "church."  They were both so excited to go!  They would get to be with the big girls, after all.  Each did the other's hair with gallons of detangler and at least a dozen barrettes placed strategically all over their heads.


When we arrived, the two girls raced inside the building.  R2 took KM on a tour--she showed her were all the bathrooms were, drinking fountains, kitchen, chapel, children's meeting room, her own classroom, the gym--the important stuff.  KM thought the pews were pretty cushy, so we sat on those for a while.


As an aside, I'd like to note that KM's visit to our church building has come at an important time for R2.  She told me a few nights ago that she asked "everyone" in her class at school if they go to church, and apparently they "all" told her no, that she's the only one that goes.  She seemed nonplussed by this discovery.  She's also just starting to understand that not all churches are the same, which is a little confusing to a 5-year-old (I'm slowly and carefully introducing words like "religion" and "spirituality" to her).  


Here's the part that all of this is building up to:  The first adult we saw when we arrived was Erika, the president of the Young Women organization (all of 28 years old).  She and R2 know each other well.  Erika said hello to the girls, and I asked R2 if she'd like to introduce her friend.  My little grown-up girl, took a deep breath, and said confidently:


"Erika, this is my friend, [KM].  [KM], this is Erika."


I couldn't believe my ears!  I have never taught her how to do this!  And not only that, but did I see hand gestures and eye contact?  Yes I did.  Not two minutes later did we see Barbara (who is my mom's age).


R2: (Deep breath, graceful hand gesture--palm up, fingers together--, eye contact, smile) Barbara, this is [KM].  (Gesturing other direction, change eye contact, still smiling) [KM] this is Barbara.


She did it several times tonight.  She was so good at it I had a number of people comment, one even applauded me as if I had something to do with it!  I thought my heart was going to burst right out of my chest, I was so proud of her.  Or maybe cry.


Good gravy!  What is next?!

KM doing R2's hair.  C2's head is in the background.  He did his best to pester them!

By the way, they loved, loved, loved putting on glow-sticks, playing on the stage, getting attention from the big girls.  They ran and ran and ran.  When I finally got R2 in bed (very late), she was mid-sentence when she fell asleep.  That never happens.