Friday, February 15, 2008

Tales of Two Kiddos

Kate and Liam are really keeping me on my toes these days. They are a lot of fun and really are each others best buddies. They play together and are so sweet with each other – Kate will read stories to Liam as they snuggle on the sofa, they have dance parties together that completely crack me and Nick up, and they play trains and cars for hours. I really am so crazy about them and happy about the fact that they are such buddies. That is not to say that Kate does not get frustrated by the fact that she has a “Liam Shadow” and acts out now and then, but that is to be expected.

Liam is a wonderful boy. He loves all things car and truck related and I cannot believe he will be 2 years old in 2 weeks! He is much more verbal now and while he is still not as chatty as Kate was at this age, he understands a lot more than we realize. He will answer questions and has a great memory. He knows all his shapes (pretty obsessed with shapes, actually) and all his letters and their sounds. In fact, one of the things that delights me to no end is his slight obsession with letters. He points them out wherever we go. But he has a very unique way of identifying them. For instance, I was changing him the other day and stood him up on the changing table and was talking to him as I fixed his shirt and he pointed to the letters on my sweatshirt (again, it was the Butler sweatshirt – I should call it the literacy shirt or something). He pointed to each letter and said “Buh, Uh, Ti, Elll, Eh, RRrrr”. He does this with every word he sees. He SOUNDS out the letter. If you point to any letter or say “What does the P say”, he will tell you the sound correctly every time. But if you ask “what is this letter” and point to a M, he will say “Mmmmm”. So funny!

Kate is so big, I just cannot believe it. There are moments when she is talking to me or I am watching her as she playing and I just for an instant catch a glimpse of grown-up Kate. For a fleeting moment she looks wise beyond her years, or her face looks older and I am left almost breathless by the thought of her becoming a smart, strong, wonderful woman some day. She continues to surprise us with her humor and sweetness and curiosity.

Here are some Kate stories:

Kate’s Teacher told me this one. At school the other day the teacher read a story about a polar bear. In the story, the polar bear apparently caught and ate a fish. At the end of the story, Kate loudly announced to the class that “Polah Beaws (still has trouble with her “R” sound, though she has the “L” sound down now!) don’t just eat fish, they also eat SEALS”. Some kids apparently oohed and aahed while others seemed dismayed at the news. The teacher said “yes, different animals eat lots of different things”. I am sure she thought that may have ended things. Well, then Kate said “and then the FOXES come and eat the cawcass of the seal that the Polah Beaws did not finish”. (she seriously said “carcass”). One of the boys protested VERY loudly “FOXES don’t live with POLAR BEARS!!!! FOXES live in the WOODS”. Kate, according to the teacher, looked at the little boy very frankly and with one eyebrow raised said “Not Awctic Foxes”. The teacher agreed that yes, there were such things as Arctic Foxes. The kids were all fascinated. She asked if anyone knew what color arctic foxes were and of course little miss smarty pants shouted “WHITE!!!!!!!!!!!!”…….the teacher then asked if anyone knew WHY they were white and Kate yelled “FOR CAMOFLAUGE!!!!! That is so they blend in to the snow”. And that pretty much ended the Kate Story Time Brain Bowl.

Her teacher and I just giggled. It is nice that her teacher really gets the way Kate works and encourages that and builds it into the day instead of dismissing her. She does that with all the kids and their interests and so the kids really do learn from each other. I asked Kate where she learned about Arctic Foxes and carcasses of all things. She told me that she was watching “Planet Earth” with Gramps. I have no doubt that she probably asked questions and my Dad explained it in a very matter-of-fact way without it being a scary thing (as polar bears eating seals could be for a 4 year old) and Kate just really accepted it, absorbed the info, and retained it word for word as she tends to do. I think it is great! She has a really healthy balance of fantasy (read: unicorns and princesses etc) and reality.


One other trait of Kate’s that is starting to shine through is her appreciation for giving to others. Naturally, due my involvement with Ever After Gowns (www.everaftergowns.org) she sees me working a lot on a charitable effort. The other day I had done a dress pick-up when she was at school and when I picked her up the minivan was full of tulle and sequined finery. She asked about it and I was explaining to her and she asked “What is Prom”? I explained how it was a dance etc. and she interrupted me enthusiastically and said “OHHHH!!!! That is where everybody gets dressed up and does the MANGO!!!!!” Trying not to laugh I said “Really? The Mango? What is that?” She said “it is a DANCE, mom, you know, the MANGO”. I just said “hmmmm…the mango”. And then she said “OH WAIT, I mean the TANgo. Not the MANgo. Of course” (totally waving her hand around and acting very laid back). I did not really get into the fact that people were not really ballroom dancing at Prom to my knowledge – let her imagine a “ball”. She is four!

Finally, last night I was proud beyond measure. As I was tucking Kate into bed she said “Mom, I think later this week we need to make two big piles. We need to make one big pile of clothes that are too tiny for me now. And another big pile of toys that I don’t use anymore. And then we can give them to kids that don’t have toys and clothes!” Well, my heart just melted. I said “oh sweetie that is a WONDERFUL idea. I am so proud of you!” She then revised her statement by saying the following “Actually, I think we need to make a pile of clothes and toys and then make MORE piles from that. One pile will have clothes and toys that we are going to give to kids that don’t have any. The other pile is stuff that we will SELL”.

Even better. ;)

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