This morning I stayed with Li-Li a little bit longer than usual at school, and dropped her off at the parent-infant program that meets for a few hours on Wednesday mornings. The kids and parents were just starting to come in — the session wouldn’t start for some time yet. I introduced Li-Li and myself to one of the other moms.
She knew Li-Li already and asked if I work with Li-Li (as in, speech therapist, teacher, or nanny, etc.) and was quite surprised when I laughed and said, oh no, I’m her mom. And then I thought, of course: Li-Li doesn’t look much like me, now, does she? And I explained and signed that we had adopted her from China.
But that wasn’t it. She explained her surprise, while still eyeing me warily: “I see Li-Li every week, and I’ve seen her with her –well, I thought it was her mother.”
“Oh, I take a vacation day every Monday to attend the program and her speech sessions, but unfortunately I can’t take off Wednesday, too, ” I said, as I gave Li-Li a hug goodbye and got up to head into Boston, to work. “On Wednesday she usually gets dropped off by one of her teachers.”
“No, this is someone who stays with her,” she said, stone-faced.