Evelyn to the Rescue

Lillian has started first grade, entering the world of firsts. Normally the second child in the family has an easy ride, the older sibling has blazed the way for them. But not so in our family. Lilly is blazing the way for herself. Everything we had figured out for Evelyn just wouldn't work for Lilly. The most troubling of the firsts was lunch. Lilly has very rarely eaten food not in our presence. So eating lunch at school was a big deal.

At Lincoln the children go to the lunchroom and then take their lunches back to the classroom to be consumed at their desks. (Deep sigh inserted here). It is not an ideal situation especially when sitting in such close proximity to all of the children drinking milk and eating pizza and nachos and basically everything children would want to eat for lunch. This was (is) a nerve wrecking experience for our family. We had no idea how to handle this, we knew this was coming but didn't know what to do.

So at lunch Lilly sat in the back of the class, by herself, watching her friends eat and talk and laugh together. The first day I was able to go in and sit with her to help ease her into this new situation. Everything seemed great until the next morning when she casually asked when I would be coming to lunch. We had thought she was fine with the situation knowing and understanding why she was in the back, removed from the danger of being near all of the milk. Never did we think she would want us to sit with her everyday. As parents we were torn; she would have to learn to deal with eating when we weren't there but she is still very young to have to deal with such things. There was no way we could go to lunch with her everyday so we decided to have her eat alone that day to help her transition into the new routine. So the second day a she ate lunch alone in the rear of the class. That night our easygoing, school loving, little girl was unconsolable. She hated being alone during lunch and begged us to help her. Now understand, she begged for us to help, not to put her back at her desk to eat. She was torn just as much as we were. Lilly felt uncomfortable being that close to the other children while they ate the foods that make her so sick.

That night she had a very concerned sister who asked us how she could help Lilly. Evelyn who had done the first grade with ease, offered to go to Lilly's room, forgoing eating with her friends, to sit with her sister so she would not feel so alone.
The bond these sisters share is amazing. I watch the way they interact with each other and the things they do to help one another and am so proud of the way they are growing up. Evelyn has always been Lilly's comfort and security. I have watched them enter new situations together with Lilly holding tight to her sister's hand and Evelyn stepping up to help her younger sister out. Lilly was very excited that her older sister would come from her classroom to eat with her. They both said they had a great time having lunch together and Evelyn said to me that night she would do it as many times as Lilly needed.

So things at school have finally worked themselves out. Lilly has had friends offer to sit with her, teachers offer to take turns spending lunch with her and finding a placement for her desk during lunch that we are all comfortable with. I am very grateful to all of the people in Lilly's world who are caring and compassionate enough to go out of their way to help her out. I am especially grateful that she has a sister who truly understands and cares about her "little sis."