Only One Direction in 2013!

Fer invited 3 friends over yesterday to immerse themselves in all things One Direction (the British boy band, for those of you not in contact with the tween/teen set these days) -- one of her friends brought the action figures, another the fan magazine, another brought various accessories, and of course, Fer had her concert DVD from Christmas. After time spent poring over the magazine and playing with the action figures while Wendy and her friend ate the candy off the gingerbread house as consolation for not being involved, the 6 of them enjoyed a screening of the concert, singing along for most of it. The evening turned into an impromptu sleepover, which, though a bit taxing for Mami, was well worth it in encouraging these friendships for Fer. It has taken some time, but she has connected with a really nice group of girls at her school. We are really proud of how she has built up these friendships -- when we moved from South Orange in June 2011, she had to leave her beloved friend Emily and for the first part of last year, it seemed she missed Emily so much that it was hard to think of having new friends. When I would go to pick her up in Aftercare she would often be on her own, drawing. But this year when I go to get her she is always with this little group of girls from her grade, all of them sitting together talking and drawing and writing. The other girls are all in Girl Scouts and Fer joined the troop this year as well, another way that she was willing to extend herself as last year she refused, and it has been a really nice way to see friends and spend more time outside of school. As Harry, Liam, Niall, Louis and Zayn (Fer's favorite) would say, there's only One Direction in 2013: Up!