"I hate you when you hit me"

Lucia declared to Pete last night. We've learned with age 3 these kind of silly, half-truth statements are part of the boundary pushing. But this statement left us both a little rattled, since uh, we have never hit her (we don't even spank). So we went to talk to her teacher to find out of maybe she had heard it at school. The answer is yes, our teacher confirmed. Apparently the troubled kid frequently says that. Which, I mean, 1000 sadfaces for that kid. Pete and I talked about it after and wondered if she was in a foster situation. If so, kudos to those parents. If not, even more sadfaces. We have heard before that this little girl got a "rough start" so we're not sure what that means, but I'm pretty sure after this morning's confirmation that  she was beaten. My heart hurts for this little girl and the promise of what she could have become, and the impact the abuse will have on her for the rest of her life. She won't be at our school next week: Monday is her last day. Obviously, she won't be terrorizing other kids like Lucia anymore, but she also won't have the experience of such an awesome preschool. AT the risk of sounding like a trite PSA, this is how abuse leaves a lifetime impact on a child. These are the ramifications of having a child struggle with displacement, a term I unfortunately had to learn about when Lucia was being hit by her. I'm hopeful that this kid will go onto another school where she can get the interaction she desperately needs and that her rough start doesn't become a rough childhood. 

Her last day is Monday; after the hitting situation this little girl brought a card to Lucia, so I think we'll make her a card this weekend to say goodbye and good luck.