Protecting Jenna and argh moments

So far Jenna has talked about nothing but the wedding and how much fun she had. She keeps telling me how gorgeous Sam looked in her princess dress (totally true, she is stunning). She was especially enamoured with the idea of eye makeup… “Sam had pretty eyes, they were pink!” Strange what they notice, I think she has seen people in makeup so infrequently it just stood out for her.

She also told me that “that lady kept stoking my hair” in a very disgusted adults-are-strange tone of voice. I have no idea which lady she meant – very few of the older women could keep their hands OFF her little fluffy blonde head! I told her (with my child protection officer hat on) that she doesn’t have to let anyone do anything she doesn’t like, and if an adult is bothering her or touching her and she wants them to stop she should tell them and then tell me. She laughed and told me that the lady was “only being nice – I don’t mind.” She’s so innocent. So so innocent and fragile. It makes me quite afraid for her that she should have to lose that some day.

We are getting lovely grown-up manners from her too lately, she doesn’t talk like a two year old. She says, “of course I will” and “my pleasure darling” and “it’s not a problem [pbloblem, she says]”. It’s lovely. And I keep being told (about things that used to frighten her) “I’m a little girl now, I didn’t like it when I was a baby but I’m bigger.”

Today we had a big scare on her behalf though. She always runs right to the toys in Boots but this time I couldn’t see where she was and she obviously realised she couldn’t see me either and did EXACTLY what I tell her to if we get separated. She stood very still and yelled for me at the top of her voice. I was there in a second but it had visibly shaken her. I hope she learns from it though and stays a bit closer from now on.