You Outshine the Morning Sun

Lin

The months passed and Pippa's belly began to grow. Molly loved touching her mom's belly, and had felt the babies kick several times. She thought it was hilarious. Pippa continued to grow, and she looked gorgeous pregnant.

It was decided the babies would share a room with Molly for now. It would be in with Pippa and Lin for a while as a newborn, of course. Molly seemed excited about sharing a room, probably because she was already acting like a little mom. She liked to be involved in any decision regarding the baby. She practiced holding and burping with her dolls, and she was always very gentle. However, three kids in one room would quickly get to be too crowded. They needed a new place.

Lin and his father, Luis, managed to get the cribs put together. They made the mistake of opening up both boxes, so they got some of the parts mixed up. Between the two of them, they were able to figure it out.

Summer had arrived, so the girls were on vacation. They both had birthdays, making them 8 and 11. In the fall, Molly would be in 3rd grade and Cam would be in 6th and starting middle school. Lin dreaded that somewhat. She already had an attitude, and they only seemed to grow worse when they hit middle school from what he'd heard.

When September rolled around, Lin went with Cam to middle school orientation. All the other parents seemed to be dreading this as much as he was. Instead of one teacher, she would have seven. Lin worried his daughter would get caught up in the shuffle with her dyslexia. He'd have to be on the ball to make sure she was getting the support she needed. Cam also needed to self-advocate when she needed help.

Cam got her schedule and locker number. They'd bought some locker supplies and decorations before hand. Cam tried her combination a couple times before Lin had to demonstrate for her. They opened it up and started decorating. Lin could tell his daughter was excited. Having your own locker was a big deal. Most of the kids from her elementary school also went to this middle school, so she knew lots of kids.

As Cam decorated, Lin looked over her schedule. He took a picture with his phone so he had the names of her teachers. He'd definitely be in contact with them. Once Cam was happy with her locker, she closed it up and they went home. Cam talked excitedly all the way. Lin decided they needed to have a bit of a heart to heart, so he took her out for ice cream.

"You seem pretty excited about middle school," he observed, digging into his chocolate ice cream with a spoon.

"I am," she admitted. "Having a bunch of different teachers will be cool."

"I wanted to talk to you about that," I said. Cam looked up at him, knowing him well enough that she probably wouldn't like what he was going to say.

"What?"

"Well, in elementary school you only had one teacher," I began. "Now in middle school you're gonna have seven. It was easier in the past for your teacher to know exactly what kind of support you needed with your dyslexia. Now your teachers have over 100 kids a day they teach. Now, I'll be meeting with your teachers to make sure they're all aware of what you need, but you need to be advocating for yourself?"

She rubbed at her forehead and pushed at her ice cream with her spoon, not saying anything.

"So, do you think you can start speaking up for yourself a little more? When you need help?" I asked her. She sighed. "What's wrong?"

Cam shrugged and kept her eyes on her ice cream. I reached across the table and put my hand on hers.

"Cam, you can tell me anything," I reminded her gently. She sighed again like she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

"I don't want the other kids to think I'm stupid," she told me. I squeezed her hand.

"And you're worried that when you ask for help, they'll think you're stupid?" I clarified. She nodded. I remembered enough about middle school that it meant a lot to a kid about what others thought.