Me: So, how was school today?
Alita: Good.
Me: Did you do anything good?
A: Um. (pause) Well, we were writing this story today, like the Polar Express but different. And yesterday we drew pictures and my pictures was of...wait, I need to tell you why we were drawing first. We were supposed to draw a picture of the place that this magical train would take us. And I drew a picture of a magical world that could only be opened by a magical train.
Me: Cool. What was in your magical world?
A: A huge candy cane. Snow...
The conversation went on and I haven't retained nearly enough of it but that's the important part of it.
It's all amazing to me because there's always the time when you have to reach and pull to get more than a one word answer out of a kid, especially where memory is concerned, and she's clearly past that, which I love.
Better than that, though, is this moment, "wait, I need to tell you why we were drawing first." It's the first time I've noticed her deploying her logic like that. I'm sure she's used it previously but never so clearly with me before. She wanted to tell me about something and she made the connection that I didn't have the right back story so she corrected her approach so I could fully participate in the conversation. Or possibly to prevent me from asking annoyingly simple follow up questions but either way it was a beautiful thing to experience. How lucky am I to get to be part of that?
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Deploy Logic, Mr. Sulu
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Of course you're right, Kizz - it's awesome. I must warn you it's also the precursor to the narrative malfunctions of later childhood. There's some phase where the majority of her utterances will consist of those "um, wait" sidetracks. Luckily, it wears off by high school. (This never troubled me, but it's amusing to watch it drive a kid's parents crazy.)
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Heh, I'd forgotten that part was coming up. I sort of love that phase, too, but I know it's because I don't have to live with it. Even when I taught on a regular basis I found it less charming than I do now.
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