Spelling Words

Tonight I spent some more time with TD.  I had a job interview down his way and NG, being his nice self, asked me to come by on my way home for dinner.   He was outside conferring with his visiting dad on boy-type stuff like drainage and conduit, and I was inside with TD putting leftovers together for dinner.  I asked her what I would ask any 8yo.....
Me: "What do you have for homework?"
TD: "Spelling words, two math sheets, and 30m of reading."
Me: "Well what are your spelling words?"
TD: "Knife, knives, lie, lies........I'll go get my sheet!!!"
She was soooo excited.  She RAN out to her dad's truck and got her spelling sheet, brought it back in, and I quizzed her while we put dinner together.  I explained the concept of "change the Y to I and add ES", and how some of them (knife to knives) are just weird and have to be memorized.  Some of the words she didn't know the meaning of, which strikes me as a problem, so we talked about those.  We made flashcards out of notebook paper (no index cards), used them in a sentence, etc.  These are totally mundane things that I have always wanted to do.  Periodically NG would come through, give me a kiss, stir the chili, spell something wrong (he's a TERRIBLE speller) and go back out to his big boy toys to play with his dad.  We all sat down for dinner and the neighbor called.  NG's neighbor was shredding some trees and wanted to know if he wanted mulch for anything.  NG, being the great guy he is, tells him he'll call him back in a few minutes.  (I had not a clue why at the time.)  When TD asked him why he didn't just say yes, NG explained that decisions like large piles of chipped wood don't just effect him now and he wanted to check with me.  I told him that anytime he wanted to make me a flower bed, I would be more than happy to play in it.  I love stuff like that.  This was intriguing to TD.  I asked her if she had ever planted flowers and she said "No, Mom doesn't have time for that."  I don't know why I reacted so strongly, but she sounded very sad, and not in a dramatic tween kind of way.
When she was getting ready to go to tutoring (what high-functioning 3rd grader needs a tutor?????), she asked "When will you be here when I'm here again?  Cause next time you're here that I'm here, bring flowers and show me how!"  I was suddenly struck with this impression of her as very needy, not in an inappropriate, dramatic, attention-seeking kind of way, but in a very real way.  This may well be a premature judgement on my part, and I'm willing to re-evaluate, but this runs right with what NG has told me about her mom.  She's very career-focused, works 16 hours a day, and TD watches the Disney Channel in her room whenever she isn't at school.
On the way to tutoring, she apparently went on and on about how much she likes me and asked her dad when we're getting married.  NG apparently replied "We'll see, but probably next year."  This was super exciting to TD, apparently she just can't wait for us to be "a real family", as she has talked about before.  No pressure.  Later, she told him she's afraid I'll become mean after we get married.  NG, insightful man that he is, said "Like asking you to brush your teeth and clean your room?", to which he got a silent lack of reply.  Silly adults and our expectations.  Hahaha!