Looking forward, looking back

Image Jo Freitag

It has been a few weeks since we last heard from the Tweet family about how they were coping with social distancing.

Did anyone find out how the mobs of emus, herds of cranes, flocks of starlings, pigeons and swifts, packs of grouse, cotes of doves and colonies and rookeries of penguins were managing social distancing?

Pippin Tweet and Great Aunt Hashtag are still staying with the Tweet family.
The Tweet family have settled into a New Normal pattern of life with Tweet making a minimum number of ventures away from the nest to collect food and they have been quite enjoying the experience of being more relaxed and having fewer commitments.

Retweet thought it would be good for Great Aunt Hashtag to help her with their Nest Ed and tell the tweetlets about what life was life when she was young. Hoping she would focus on happy memories Retweet said “Tell us about the ’good ole days’ and what you did.”

“When you used to hang out with Archaeopteryx!” chirped Tweetil.

“I can assure you Archaeopteryx had been extinct for a very long time before I hatched” said Great Aunt Hashtag in a very huffy tone of voice.

In MY day!” she said “There were no shortages of desiccated Christmas beetles and tweetlets only tweeted when they were twoken to.
Tweetlets sat in the nest and ate their food and learned their Nesty Rhymes. None of these fancy contraptions in MY day. I don’t understand this WEB thing. If Arachnid had put up a web in MY nest I would have swept it away immediately.”

 

Retweet sighed. She looked out from the nest and thought about how for some the past has happy memories and others have sad memories of the past.
She thought about the time of physical distancing they were experiencing at the moment and wondered what life would be like when the restrictions were lifted.
There had been things she had enjoyed and things that she could see they had returned to a simpler, more economical and more environmentally sustainable way of living. She wondered whether some of those things would be retained and whether there would be changes and improvements in education methods.

Somehow Retweet was not surprised to see two of Sprite’s dog friends sitting at the base of their tree,
Wistful Black Dog as ever was looking back at the past and either missing the good times or wishing that things could have been different.
And little Imaginational Dabrowski was hopefully looking forward to the future and imagining what an ideal world could be – on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Braced for Paradox

I found the Dabrowski Dogs preparing excitedly for the dog competitions at the Spring Agricultural Shows.

Psycho Motor Dabrowski was practising for all the agility events – scaling the high wall, taking a long jump into a swimming pool, running figure of eights through bending poles and crawling through tunnels. He was having so much fun that after he completed each exercise he bounced several times, barked loudly and chased his tail. And he knew the audience would love to see him do that.

Sensual Dabrowski was hoping to be able to compete in the trials for retriever dogs. With his highly developed sense of smell he is excellent at finding and retrieving objects.

Intellectual Dabrowski was preparing for the sheep dog trials by herding twitter birds into an empty sprite can. He was carefully triangulating and calculating the fastest route and deciding exactly when he should give a bark or hold them with the working dog stare. It was Intellectual’s opinion that the dog was the one who instigated all the moves and that the handler was just there for the sake of appearance and to collect the trophy for him.

Imaginational Dabrowski had seen people parachuting into the main arena during the agricultural shows and was happily daydreaming about how much fun it would be to swoop in as Delta Dog https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/delta-dog/  on his hang glider.

Emotional Dabrowski, the Drama Queen, was getting ready for the conformation classes. She had been to the Paws for Poise mobile dog grooming salon https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/paws-for-poise-parlour-1/  several times and was now parading in front of the mirror, posing in the show stance and showing off her beautifully groomed coat, well-trimmed claws and sparkling white teeth. She was also experimenting with different facial expressions; trying to gauge which would be most appealing to the judges.

Then I noticed that Sprite had the collars of P’est Pour Parfait, the black Perfectionist Poodle and The White Perfectionist Poodle attached to a single lead and she was trying to control them as they endeavoured to head in opposite directions.

“What are you doing?” I asked

“They want to go in the class for A Pair of Dogs” she said.

“That class is called the Brace Class” I said. “The dogs are supposed to look as identical as possible – the same height and colour etc. – and they are supposed to move smoothly in step with each other on the single lead.”

“Oh!” said Sprite. “Maybe I didn’t understand what they wanted. I thought they said they wanted to go in the class for a Pair of Dogs but maybe they said they wanted to go in a class for a Paradox. That would make more sense because Paula told me Perfectionism is a paradox – it can be both good and bad”

We talked about the paradox of perfectionism in the post Black poodle, white poodle https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/white-poodle-black-poodle/

Bachelor of Bouncing, Doctor of Daydreaming

Image Jo Freitag

Columbus Cheetah and the Dabrowski Dogs were discussing the new school year and how they could help Sprite to succeed.

Columbus Cheetah had the Feetspeak Quest map  and Prof Francoys Gagne’s DMGT model diagram  spread out and was trying to plot a path for Sprite from innate giftedness to fully developed talent.
“We can provide her with support and make opportunities available” Columbus was saying “But there are still speed humps and difficulties to overcome.
Being 2E does complicate matters.
It is quite a challenge to prevent her from being an underachiever.
She finds it hard to demonstrate her giftedness and many of her areas of strength are not ones that are recognized and rewarded in the school system.
She does not receive any credit from the school for the astronomy evenings with her mentor.
And the school is not impressed with her very original way of thinking such as:
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/thats-what-its-all-about/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/critical-thinking/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/11/24/timelines/

It is a myth that all gifted students will be successful in school.” Columbus concluded.

“If Sprite is going to succeed academically I should be the only one to accompany her to school” stated Intellectual Dabrowski.

There were growls and howls of disagreement from all the other Dabrowski Dogs.

“I am the only one who has a remote chance of getting her through the system and ending up with some sort of official academic qualification” Intellectual continued.
“What will you others help her achieve?
Bachelor of Bouncing with Psycho Motor Dabrowski
Honorary degree in Histrionics with Emotional Dabrowski
Certificate of Completion in Corporeal Comforts with Sensual Dabrowski
Or Doctorate in Daydreaming with Imaginational Dabrowski”

“What I am trying to say” said Columbus Cheetah “is that, as well as advocating for provisions for Sprite at school, it will be necessary for her to be given plenty of opportunities and experiences outside the school setting and that time with her mentor, Paula the Physicist will be very valuable.”

This is a post for Hoagies’ Gifted February 2016 blog hop:
Other Achievement: when your child doesn’t achieve where you hope. 
To find out what advice other bloggers have come on the hop with us starting at www.HoagiesGifted.org/blog_hop_other_achievement.htm

 

The year in review 2015

Image Jo Freitag

“I still say Memory Elephants are overworked!” grumbled the Memory Elephant. “First you wanted me to help you write the Gifted Resources’ Activity Report for the year and now you want me to review the posts on Sprite’s Site blog for 2015. Well, here is the review.”

In 2015 Sprite’s Site participated in six of the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum blog hops  

January: Gifted in reel life
We discussed some movies which depict gifted characters and the Gifted Resources Film Discussion series.
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/01/19/gifted-in-reel-life/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/on-the-gifted-in-reel-life-blog-hop/

March: A Day in the Life of a Gifted Homeschooler
Twitter Bird Retweet shared a presentation about a typical NEST ed day.
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/one-nest-ed-day/

April: Gifted at Different Ages and Stages
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/04/20/do-you-grow-out-of-giftedness/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/on-the-ghf-april-2015-blog-hop/

May: Perfectionism and other Gifted/2E quirks
We saw the value of Sprite’s mentor, Paula the Physicist and gained a new character on the blog – the White Poodle.
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/05/18/white-poodle-black-poodle/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/05/27/the-perfect-quirky-ghf-blog-wheel/

September: Parenting Gifted/2E kids on a shoestring
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/09/20/on-a-shoestring/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/post-blog-hop-post/

October: Discovering the depth and breadth of giftedness
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/discovering-the-depth-and-breadth-of-giftedness/

In 2015 Sprite’s Site also participated in eight of the Hoagiesgifted’ blog hops

April: Anxiety https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/04/01/anxiety/
May: 2E kids https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/05/01/2e-is/
June: The gift of free time
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/06/01/the-gift-of-free-time/
July:Gifted relationships
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/friends-and-relations/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/07/13/gifted-relationships/
August: Gifted 101
We collected the stories of the lives of the members of the Tweet family.
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/08/01/beginning-the-journey-gifted-101/
September: Over sensitivities (OEs)
We collected some of the stories about the over excitable Dabrowski Dogs.
Stories of the OEs https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/stories-of-the-oes/
October: How and When to Ask for Help
We assembled a panel of experts from Sprite’s Site to answer questions on the topic.
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/10/01/asking-for-help-a-guest-expert-panel-qa-session/
December: Surviving the holidays
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/12/01/surviving-the-holidays/

Image Jo Freitag

In January several of the characters from Sprite’s Site became 3D when they were made into Persona Dolls and a whole new blog, Personas, profiles and portraits, was created for them at https://jofreitag.wordpress.com/

The Sprite’s Site posts about them in January were
Memory elephant in the room
Bearnice

The Sprite’s Site characters and the Persona Dolls appeared in webinars and these were discussed on Personas, profiles and portraits blog https://jofreitag.wordpress.com/  and Gifted Resources blog https://giftedresources.wordpress.com/

In February, having devoted much time to the new blog and activities associated with it Jo returned to Sprite’s Site
Back to base 

In March and April De Bono’s Six Action Shoes were mentioned
New blue boots
Pleading the pink slipper 

Image Jo Freitag

April Fools’ Day saw Sprite trying to trick the Persona Dolls by suggesting that she could cross into their dimension.
The digital divide
The digital divide 2
The digital divide 3
Easter was celebrated in April this year
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/happy-easter-3/

Also in April we also encountered homework problems when the over excitable Dabrowski Dogs “helped” Sprite.
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/back-from-the-hop/

In June we celebrated the blog birthday and New Zealand Gifted Awareness Week blog hop
Happy Birthday Sprite’s Site
Changing the way you see us

In July we met another new character. Sprite has been partnered with Prudence in the school’s buddy system.
Making connections
Making connections 2
Making connections 3

In August the topic of boredom was discussed
Boredom Bingo
Boredom Bingo 2
Boredom Bingo 3

And in September Jo decided to accept Lisa Rivero’s Back to Blogging #30postshathsept challenge to write 30 blog posts for the month. She chose to write 10 posts for each of her three blogs. The posts written for Sprite’s Site were posts about Posts.
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/09/05/thirty-posts-hath-september-1/
and following posts.

Image Jo Freitag

In October Jo participated in INKtober and a new portrait of the Sprite’s Site folk was created. The Lobsters held their annual Lobby Lobster Fest and the Dabrowski Dogs dressed up for Halloween.
Hat tips
INKtober

In November we tackled the topic of homework again with the Dabrowski Dogs helping Sprite to overthink the exercise of creating a timeline of events in Australian history.
Timelines 

And in December we thought about Christmas. The Persona Dolls held a Christmas party and sent their own greetings from their blog and the Twitter birds joined in a Bonus Advent series challenge with the Facebook 52 Illustrations Group.

Memories of Christmases past
Christmases present
Christmases future
Seasons’ greetings from all at Sprite’s Site

“There is the 2015 blog review” said the Memory Elephant. “I hope you are happy with it. I am really looking forward to my holiday on 30 December!”

 

 

Christmases future

Image Jo Freitag

Having discussed how Sprite had celebrated Christmas in past years with the help of the Memory Elephant and the activities which are being held this year Intellectual Dabrowski insisted that in order to maintain the Dickensian symmetry of A Christmas Carol we should now discuss possible future Christmases.

Of course Imaginational Dabrowski was happy to imagine future Christmases and, being an idealist and utopian thinker, his hopes centred around the world becoming a more peaceful place, people sharing resources, and being kinder to the environment.

Lone piper Angus McTvitter piped in with “Och, I love a guid Noo Year’s ferst foooting!”

And the Memory Elephant reminded everyone that before we could have a New Year’s Eve he would be celebrating Memory Elephants Day on 30 December

Timelines

Image Jo Freitag

History homework always causes problems for Sprite.

Last night was no exception. The exercise was to mark certain important dates in Australian history on a timeline and write a paragraph about each one.
The Twitter Birds sporting their Movember moustaches were twittering encouragingly. White Poodle was perched on the desk.
And the Dabrowski Dogs were ready to help.
“Go on – just draw a timeline and write those dates on it and if Intellectual doesn’t find you too much information about each one we can be out of here in five minutes!” urged Psycho Motor. He had already brought out the Frisbee.

“She has to do it properly!” growled Intellectual. “I have provided a six volume account of the nation’s history and background readings to help determine whether the dates as stated in the books are accurate. I have also provided biographical details about the author to help determine his point of view and possible reasons for any inaccuracies.”

“But I don’t know how to draw the timeline” Sprite was saying “And I don’t know what date to put for the start.”

“I don’t see any problem” said Psycho Motor “Just draw a straight line with a ruler, put the dates you were given in order under the line and label each of the dates with the most important event that happened that year. Just do it and then we can go outside.”

“Sprite is obviously taking into account  the disputes surrounding the determination of the years according to various people groups and religions” conceded Intellectual.  “Let us assume for the purposes of this exercise that the dates are Western C.E. Common Era (we used to call it A.D. Anno Domini)”

“But what do I put for the starting date and how do I determine the scale for the timeline?” asked Sprite.”The history of the indigenous peoples goes back thousands and thousands of years before any of these dates.”

“And, anyway,” Sprite continued “I don’t even think time goes in one direction in a straight line. If it did we would measure it with a ruler not a clock.”

“What on Earth have you been suggesting to her now, Imaginational?” demanded Intellectual.

“I just said” replied Imaginational “that I thought time went out from a single point (but I don’t know where that point would be located) and that it goes out in all directions in a spiral pattern wave motion. That explains why we have déjà vu and serendipitous crossing of paths and it also explains why we have different places being at different stages at the same time. It explains why history repeats itself and people keep on making the same mistakes. And it could also explain how some inventions originate  and why some people have precognition”

Intellectual put his head on the floor and covered his nose with his paws.“No wonder she is confused, Imaginational!” he growled. “I wish you would only help Sprite with her homework when she has a creative writing exercise.”

Image Jo Freitag

Hat Tips

I had been very busy all October participating in INKtober and had only visited Sprite’s Site a couple of times during the month. When I returned today I found everyone absorbed in trying on hats.

The Twitter Birds were dressing up for the Spring Racing Carnival with the Melbourne Cup which is held on the first Tuesday of November.

The Dabrowski Dogs realised that we would not be doing anything lavish to celebrate Halloween but insisted that they should dress up as they do each year even if only to put on a hat.

Psycho Motor brought out the pumpkin helmet and cape he wore last year.

Imaginational made a tin foil hat to be a match with his little friend Thinks He’s an Alien Black Dog who he always thinks about at this time of year

Sensual was given a green hat but did not think it would be very comfortable to wear.

Emotional was enthusiastic about the dramatic feathers on her glamorous blue bonnet.

And Intellectual felt he must undertake a Master class in Millinery in order to be fully informed about how to create a suitable hat for the occasion.

Image Jo Freitag

 

 

Stories of the OEs

Image Jo Freitag

The theme of Hoagiesgifted’ September Blog Hop is over sensitivities (OEs).
So it seems appropriate to share the stories relating to the Dabrowski Dogs.
The five Dabrowski dogs are Sprite’s constant companions on Sprite’ Site Blog.
They are personifications of the characteristics described by Dabrowski’s Over-excitabilities. Stephanie Tolan has written an excellent Layman’s Explanation to Dabrowski’s Over-excitabilities at http://www.stephanietolan.com/dabrowskis.htm

Image Jo Freitag

Intellectual, the Border collie, loves learning and academia. He is quite pedantic and insistent on verifying the accuracy of facts and citing sources correctly. He loves puzzles and word games. He learns rapidly and thinks deeply and critically. He loves to debate issues and his intellect can be intimidating at times. There is no point in arguing with Intellectual when he is giving you the flinty working dog stare. He will keep pushing until you accomplish his goals. Sometimes Intellectual combines forces with P’est Pour Parfait, the Perfectionist Poodle to insist on the production of high quality work.

Image Jo Freitag

Sensual (who has the nickname Itchy) is stimulated by sights, sounds, tastes and textures. This can be good or bad – when the effects are negative Sensual can be part of the Black Dogs group who represent possible causes of depression.

Image Jo Freitag

Imaginational, the Bedlington terrier, participates in a vivid imaginary world where he is a lamb or floats around in a hot air balloon. Imaginational likes to imagine a utopian future and is therefore a useful member of problem solving teams

Image Jo Freitag

Emotional, the English Springer spaniel, experiences the extremes of happiness and despair. Her emotions are complex –she can be moved to tears by music. She has a heightened sense of justice and an empathy with others which can cause pain for her.

Image Jo Freitag

Psycho Motor is very active both mentally and physically. He is always bouncing and barking and chasing his tail. Some people claim he has ADHD and others say he is just very active! Although he does not appear to be paying attention he can usually give the right answer.

Overexcitabilities play an important role in Sprite’s life

Educational experience
Doggy classroom dynamics https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/doggy-classroom-dynamics/
Overprikkelbaar https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2012/09/01/overprikkelbaar/
The G word https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2014/05/09/the-g-word/
Homework
Back from the hop https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2015/04/24/back-from-the-hop/
That’s what it’s all about  https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2014/04/14/thats-what-its-all-about/
Critical thinking https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2012/07/30/critical-thinking/ 

Reading
Sharing the news with the Dabrowski dogs https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/sharing-the-news-with-the-dabrowski-dogs/
Reading to dogs https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2012/04/11/reading-to-dogs/

Everyday life
I love Christmas but https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2014/12/15/i-love-christmas-but/
Travelling with the Dabrowski dogs https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/gtstoogies-9-travelling-with-the-dabrowski-dogs/

The Dabrowski Dogs are not always in agreement.

There is dispute about which of them should take the leading role

Delta dog https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/delta-dog/

There is often tension between the pedantic Intellectual and the visionary dreamer Imaginational. This was very apparent in the affair of the topiary tree octopus

https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2010/11/13/march-for-the-tree-octopus/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2010/11/17/review-of-the-march-for-the-tree-octopustranscript-1/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2010/11/18/review-of-the-march-for-the-tree-octopus-2-evidence-from-the-memory-elephant/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/imaginational-dabrowski-counsel-for-the-defence/
https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/imaginational-dabrowski-counsel-for-the-defence-2/

 

Overexcitabilities often lead to labels being given which are sometimes accurate but at other times are inappropriate or even represent misdiagnosis
Labels https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/gt-chat-labels-good-bad-or-simply-wrong/

Image Jo Freitag

This is a post for Hoagies’ Gifted Blog Hop for September

To read more about the topic join the Hoagies’ Blog hop by clicking on the Blog hop graphic created by Pamela S Ryan or following the link to

www.HoagiesGifted.org/blog_hop_overexcitabilities.htm

 

 

Boredom Bingo

Image Jo Freitag

Sprite’s mentor, Paula the Physicist was visiting again and was very pleased to learn that Sprite had taken her advice about talking to Prudence.

“You remember you said we would talk about boredom sometime?” Sprite said “Can we talk about that now? Prudence says she gets really bored in class and I did not know how to help her”
“I do not think it would be a good idea to tell her to do what I do” Sprite continued “because sometimes it gets me into trouble.”

“What do you do when you get bored?” asked Paula. “I cannot imagine you acting like the class clown or flicking paper balls around the room”

Sprite laughed. “No” she said “I play Boredom Bingo.”
“It is a game I invented to help me concentrate when the teacher is talking about stuff I have known for ages. You see teachers tend to repeat facts several times so that everyone will understand. And sometimes when the lesson is really boring Intellectual Dabrowski goes to sleep under the desk and I tune out and if the teacher does say something new I miss hearing it.”

“So I draw up a three by three or five by five grid and when the teacher says a fact I write it or draw a picture of it in a square. Then every time she says that same fact I put a tick in that square and when she has said it 7 times I cross out that square. When I have a whole row or column of crosses or I have crosses in all the squares on the diagonals I win and usually the lesson is nearly over.”

“Why does playing Boredom Bingo get you into trouble?” asked Paula.

“Well Intellectual suggested that I should put a few extra phrases in the boxes in the grid that would alert me if something new was going to be said or if there was something I could research later. For instance he suggested adding the word ‘like’ because it could mean a simile or analogy was coming which would interest me”

“But sometimes Intellectual still gets bored and goes to sleep and Imaginational Dabrowski steps up to help me play Boredom Bingo.”

“Imaginational suggested adding all the things the teacher says a lot like ‘literally’ and ‘actually’ and ‘Um’ and also putting in some words that I would like to hear so that I would not miss them if they were said. So I put in words like ‘astronomy’ and fractals’. It also makes it harder to complete a line or column”

“Today our regular teacher was away so we had a relieving teacher for maths. She did not want to go on to any new work so she reviewed basic arithmetic. She called the lesson ‘Amazing Arithmetic’ and she wanted the kids to chorus ‘THAT’S AMAZING’ after she said really basic facts. I did not think it was amazing at all and Intellectual Dabrowski said “Oh pleeeeeease!” and vanished under the desk.”

“So Imaginational stepped up to help and we added Amazing to one box on the grid.
Then it turned out that the word ‘like’ was the word that she used as a filler in the way some people say ‘Um’.”

“By the time the lesson was half way through ‘Amazing’ and ‘like’ and most of the facts had at least seven ticks and a cross out. I was thinking that if I swapped the position of the ‘like’ box with the position of the ‘astronomy’ box I would have a bingo! And I thought I could allow myself to do that because I do ‘like astronomy’.
And Intellectual Dabrowski woke up and said that Arithmetic was very useful for calculating stuff for Astronomy but the numbers were usually much bigger and followed by ten to the power of huge numbers. And, of course, the same could be said for Nanotechnology but the numbers were followed by ten to the power of minus numbers.”

Image Jo Freitag

“And then I realised that I had yelled ‘BINGO!’ out loud and everyone was looking at me.”
“And the teacher said ‘It sounds as if Sprite has discovered an Amazing Arithmetic fact. Let’s go round the class and each say what Amazing Arithmetic Fact we have discovered today.”

“And one by one all the kids stated a basic arithmetic fact and everyone chorused ‘THAT’S AMAZING!’ and when it was my turn I could not think what I could say that related to the lesson. Intellectual Dabrowski mumbled that I should tell her it is about scale and plus and minus powers of ten. But that would show that I had been daydreaming.”

“Imaginational said I should tell her how many times she said the words like and amazing in half an hour and therefore what the rates of likes and amazings per second would be. But I knew if I said that I would get sent to the principal for being rude”

“Whatever I said would get me into trouble so I didn’t say anything. And she asked why I had said Bingo and I said it was not important now and everyone laughed at me.”

Making connections 2

Image Jo Freitag

Now that Sprite had decided that maybe she was supposed to be a mentor for the little girl she thought of as Pincher she was worrying about what she should do and say.

Of course the Dabrowski Dogs and the Black Dogs were eager to provide input.

“I think it would be wonderful for you to be her mentor” said Imaginational Dabrowski. “She could come to visit us and go on excursions with you and you could lend her books and …”

“I would like to urge caution” said Guard on Duty Black Dog. “You really do not know anything about her. You do not know whether she needs or wants a mentor. You do not know whether she even wants to be friends or if she just likes playing with your crutches.”

“Paula said I need to talk to her to find out about all that.” Sprite said. “But I just do not know what to say.”

“I suppose I could talk about the weather” she suggested.

“Yes, you could talk about barometric pressure and isobars and the Stevenson Screen” said Intellectual Dabrowski.

“Talking about the weather is depressing!” said SAD Seasonally Affected Black Dog

“Then you could tell her about chaos theory, fractals, tessellations and harmonic motion of the planets” said Intellectual Dabrowski.

“That is NOT a good idea!” said Wistful Black Dog who tends to have negative thoughts about the past. “Remember the reactions you got when you tried to talk about those things in the past.” https://spritessite.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/talkfest/

“Take a ball or a Frisbee and ask if she wants to play” yelped Psycho Motor Dabrowski.
“Yeah, great idea. You can throw it and she can go fetch it” said Little Bully Black Dog. “Then you could ask her to go and get all sorts of other stuff for you too.”

“That is not a good idea at all!” Sprite said. “I don’t want to bully her or tease her. I want to talk to her and find out more about her”

“Ask her how she is feeling” suggested Sensual Dabrowski. “Ask her if she wants to use your crutches because she really has a sore ankle or if she is just dressing up like you because she is a copycat. If you like I could sit in front of her and scratch myself and see if she gets itchy too.”

“Ask her if she feels like an alien too” said little Thinks-he’s –an-alien Black Dog

Emotional Dabrowski was horrified by those suggestions! “You can’t say things like that to her the first time you talk to her. That is NOT going to make her feel comfortable enough to talk to you.
You could take a board game or a craft or wool for a cat’s cradle game and ask her if she wants to play with you.
Why not say “Hi! How are you today? My name is Sprite by the way; what is your name?”