Hi Jen,
Seems like asking the leader if your daughter can attend the older girls meetings is worth a try. If you want to be sneaky about it, try having a few of the girls over for playdates, one at a time, so that if the swap happens, the other girls will be enthusiastic about it. If the higher-up don't agree, then perhaps your leader would be willing to "register" her with the troup she is in now, but "invite" her to participate with the older girls. My son has always enjoyed having a range of boys for playdates, from his age up to about 3 years older.
funny story:
I was driving DS in the car with a boy, 3 years older who happened to have a speech impediment. Somehow the conversation got around to speech therapy and occupational therapy, and my son said: "You have a Stutter."
friend: "H-H-How did you know?" ((Meaning how did you know the name of my problem? Apparently the other Middle School kids he knows did not know the word for it.))
my son: Um, ((turning red in the face, and perplexed)) It's because I can hear you do it.
it took a few minutes to get the missunderstanding sorted out. The friend was "so impressed" with what I thought every kid would know. That's part of how I got my impression that kids are much more tuned in to varying development than adults are -
what must it be like to "amaze your friends" with almost every utterance, over and over, day after day?
BTW - I love your "Mother Mouse story." The way you tell it reminds me that I am always thinking "Oh, I remember what book he got that from," and giving less credit then if he had "thought of it himself." Realistically, it is very impressive that our children would listen well, understand, and retain that level of knowledge all by itself.
((Big Smiles))
Trinity
