If You Can't Take the Heat...

Last year, after Ella switched into the Monday/Wednesday/Friday classroom at Concordia University, I was excited to learn that she would be rubbing elbows with a celebrity's kid.  This guy has his own cooking show on Food Network and to this foodie-wannabe, you can't get more "A list" than that.  We'd bump into them at the school's picnic or holiday party and I'd play it cool; never letting on that I had fantasies that involved him and Giada sharing recipes at Ina's Hamptons home.  Secretly, I was hoping to hit it off with his wife so that maybe we'd get a dinner invitation.  I truly think we were making some headway.  That was until last week.  "Ella and a few of her friends were kicking another child...in the face", her teacher told me with a grim look.  What?  I know that Ella had been spending more time with some of the rowdier boys at school.  It's weird, this divide started happening in the classroom.  Girls standing demurely in their ballet flats acting like kittens and boys doing God knows what.   Ella has a lot more energy to harness than a mewing kitten so she finds herself being drawn to games that involve jumping from the tops of slides and other playground equipment.  I pick her up from school ruddy cheeked, her entire body is covered in wood chips.  But today, she had crossed a line.  No doubt, to quell any potential animosity between parents, teachers never disclose the name of the victim (or aggressor).  But to my horror, as we were walking to the car, I heard a little boy's voice rise above the parking lot buzz, identifying that "Ella B" was the perpetrator.  It was the Celebrity's son!  Celebrity and Celebrity Wife looked at me and laughed.  An expression of "what are you going to do" across their faces.  I pulled out of the parking lot deflated, my hopes were dashed.  No dinner, no recipe sharing, no gossiping about Emeril.  Ella, exasperated, tried explaining that they were playing Star Wars and she did not want him on her space ship.  And for that she kicked his face.  Clearly, I wasn't going to understand her logic.  Ella wrote him a lengthy apology which ended with a declaration of love (all her idea).  Now we sit and wait, all the while Tivo-ing his shows, hoping for a sign that reconciliation is a possibility.  Sigh.