I've written about my First Daughter, but not about The Baby. I
finally made it to her parent/teacher conference yesterday (even
though she's only 3). They showed me her "artwork." I was
expecting the usual stuff, and to hear the usual praise, but it
was not so. Both her teachers sat down with me and said that
they could not interpret her "artwork." One of the ladies has a
PhD in chid development and said that my Baby's "artwork" defies
analysis.
Apparently, kids draw in three phases. The first phase is dots,
the second is scribbles, the third is recognizable (or almost
recognizable) objects. Baby paints all three phases on one
page. And she spends hours doing it. They showed me her
artwork from a year ago. She had covered a page in these ornate
scribbles and dots using a black crayon. I thought it was funny
that she used black, but otherwise, thought it was normal. No.
They showed me three other kids' artwork and the had made a few
wispy scribbles and moved on to something else. Baby's page was
covered from corner to corner with deep black complicated
curlicues. And to top it off, she had done the other side too.
And she has done 10 times as much "artwork" as the other kids.
They said she doesn't want to socialize, only draw and paint.
The things she is drawing now are really weird. She draws many
disembodied heads with eyes, nose and mouth (she even puts
irises in the eyes) and then in the middle of them, she'll make
a sun. And throughout the page will be the curlicues. They
said most kids just draw their family or animals. I can't tell
if she is reliving some deep trauma, or if she is a genius, or
if (Godforbid) she is autistic. She defies analysis.
She wouldn't speak for the longest time. I was on the verge of
taking her to a speech therapist, but she suddenly started
speaking perfectly (except for her "r"s and "l"s). One day,
when she didn't know I was listening, she counted to 20 in
Spanish. I don't even know where she learned it. I make her
sound so complex, but she is such a placid kid. Her favorite
thing to do is curl up on my lap. That's all she asks out of
life. That and her Dora doll.
This doll was given to the First Daughter for her birthday.
Baby refused to let her have it, and through sheer force of
will, made it hers. One day, Jethro was vacuuming the floor and
pretended that he was going to vacuum up the Dora doll. He said
he saw this blur and the Dora doll disappeared. Baby had
saved her. I almost cried when he told me this,
because both girls are terrified of the vacuum. Charlene will
scream, but Baby just stands there, petrified, too scared to
scream or move. Heartbreaking, but kind of sweet.
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5 comments:
I'd say your kid will be ok. Well, as long as she doesn't start housefires with her thoughts. :o)
She is too nice to start fires. The other one though....
That's a good idea. But I am almost completely retarded when it comes to doing things like that. I don't even know how to link to other people's blogs from mine. Jethro has promised to help me with it as soon as he is done with his exams.
Katy, that is reassuring. I'm not that worried because her hearing is ok. I have a theory that she is just a perfectionist. She refused to walk until she could do it perfectly. I've seen her trip maybe twice. She is a really thorough kid - hence the detailed picture. I will have to post them - they are really funny (at least to me).
your baby sounds amazing! you are so lucky....
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