You, Me, and the Kid: A Stefanielle Story

Part 9

When Stefania got in her car after the lunch date, she had tears streaming down her face. New and old. She sat there for a moment, staring out the drivers window. While she was doing that, the blonde she had just had lunch with was getting into her car to drive home. If only she knew what had happened afterwards. 

After moments of sitting there she decided that the best way for her to stop crying was to just go home. Home was her happy place. It was where she made many of memories of herself and her daughter. Such as the one where she had finally moved in to the apartment and had a little get together with her friends, or when she was downstairs watching Tv and Andi was supposed to be asleep but she ended up crawling down the stairs, and crawled over to the couch and pulled herself up to see her mom sitting there. That's when Stefania realized that it was time to get baby gates, and probably upgrade her daughters crib considering the fact that she could crawl out of it. 

With all those memories coming back into her head, she stopped crying in a matter of seconds. "I guess we could drive home now." she whispered to herself. On the way home she was thinking of things to do on this date. She didn't really know Dani all that well yet and the only things she knew was that Danielle was a very sensitive person. The only interactions they had with each other so far was at the mall, at the bank, on the hiking trail, and the big argument they just had. Funny how they weren't even dating yet, but had already had their first argument over one simple question, that somehow Stefania still hasn't answered yet. 

When the brunette made it home, she decided the best way to calm herself down was to put on some good Italian music, and dance. While she was dancing she also came up with some combos to teach today for her jazz class.  Before she knew it, it was time to go pick up her daughter from school. She quickly threw some clothes in the washer and dryer before leaving and also refilled Jeff's food and water bowl. 

"Mamma why have you been crying?" The 6 year old asked her mom. It was amazing how she could tell what emotions her mom hade been thru, and probably considering there had been dried up tear stains on her face. "I just have a rough day Bella." She responded. "c'è comunque posso migliorarlo?" she asked. Stefania looked shocked at the phrase she asked. "Okay 1. there is no way ok? Just be you, and 2 where did you learn that?" 

"Uncle Gio taught me!" she said proudly. Stefania nodded and continued to drive home. When the mother daughter duo finally arrived home, they both had some things to do before going to dance. Andi had to do some homework, and Stefania had to change the laundry, and figure out what she wanted to make for dinner.  She walked into the kitchen to find her daughter sitting there with an angry look on her face. "Why that look bella?" The mom asked sitting next to her daughter. "Ms. John gave us homework." She said. "Who gives students homework on the second week of school!" 

Then it hit Stefania, a lot has happened and it was still only the second week of school. Monday her daughter started 2nd grade and she meet Dani at the mall, Tuesday they saw each other at the bank and Andi's best friend got hurt, on Wednesday they meet again at the hiking trail and then that led to conflict between the two. That Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday they didn't talk to each other and today was Tuesday again and the both of them had a very aggressive lunch, and now they were going on a date Friday. Still not getting over the fact that they still were not dating yet and a lot has happened. 

"What type of work is it?" Stef asked Andi, after snapping back into her thoughts. 
"Hard work." She said kind of mad still. Stefania grabbed the paper and slid it towards her self and examined the sheet. 'Adding and Subtracting' she thought. "It's not that hard. You learned this last year except it was with 1 digit numbers, this time is 2 digits." The mom told her. Alessandra let out a big sigh and put her legs up in the seat and tucked her head between them with her arms wrapped around them. "Come on it's not that hard." Stefania said and pulled her daughters leg downs. Andi had tears streaming down her face. Man, doing math at the table after school just hits different, it was likely that she was gonna cry from not understanding it. 

"Why are you crying bella?"
"I don't know how to do it."
"It's not that hard. Can I show you a way on how to do it?"

She nodded and sat herself back up and handed her mom a pencil. The both of them sat there doing math work until it was time for them to go. 

"See that wasn't that hard. Go put on your dance clothes ok?" Andi nodded and ran upstairs. Stefania gathered her daughter's homework to put it back in her folder until she found a note on her chart from teacher. 

Alessandra is kind of separating herself from the other kids in the class. She is a very smart kid and gets her work done, but doesn't really pay attention in class. Just thought you should know. It's not a problem for me but I want her to be comfortable with the other kids. - Ms. John

Stefania looked confused at the note at first. Her daughter never had this problem before. If anything teachers would tell her that she's a little talkative in class, never separate herself from the other kids. Stefania made a mental note to talk to Andi about that. "I'm ready!" she yelled as she walked down the stairs in her pink and green leotard with her white shorts on top of them. "I'm gonna go get changed and then we can go." 

They finally made it to the dance studio and went their separate ways. Andi went with her dance class and Stefania went to the class she taught. 

"Hey Stefania!" one of the other teachers said. 
"Hello!"
"Our last comp of the season is coming up!"
"I know! Crazy how fast the season goes by. 2 more week right?"
"Yep!"