I went to pick Vivian up from school this afternoon and her teacher pulled me aside to show me something. I was kind of concerned because last week she pulled me aside to tell me that Viv was constantly lifting her dress up over her head. The teacher seemed far more concerned about this than I was.
Today she showed me a row of art projects lined up against the wall. The kids were all supposed to fill in what they would eat if they "were a mouse." Every child in the class said "cheese." That is every child except Vivian. Vivian said "vegetables."
If Vivian were a mouse she would eat vegetables.
It reminded me of an afternoon last November when all the same kid's Thanksgiving wreaths recorded that they were thankful for their moms, dads, siblings and toys. Vivian's wreath just said "grapes and soup." My kid was most thankful for grapes and soup.
The thing is I just want to kiss her for such answers, these little nods toward the unusual and unexpected. She strikes against what is obvious, what is conventional, and dreams up words and stories that breathe with originality.
All her imaginary playmates are named "Browshow," "Cranchaw," or "Shakulee."
I wonder if she'll be a writer...or mentally ill. (There's a fine line.)
In the mean time we are hanging the strange looking mouse on the refrigerator. Come morning we will feed him a breakfast of cauliflower and brussel sprouts.
4 comments:
Or be like her mother and not color the ocean scene the way the art teacher said but go wtih her own color scheme.
It wasn't paint. It was construction paper and I put the light blue as the water instead of as the sky. I decided it should be night time. Too bad the art teacher didn't think so much of it.
You are correct Jamie - it is a very fine line ;-D Seriously, I think real mice would prefer vegetables to cheese. Viv is very in tune with her inner mouse.
I feel I should also add a disclaimer saying that the teacher showed me the picture because she thought it was cute and clever as well...not because she thought anything was wrong with it.
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