My Daughter is Gifted

My daughter competed in a talent show at day camp.  She played Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on a kazoo, and sweetly, naively, hoped she would win.  Thankfully the camp counselors gave little plastic gold medals to all the participants, and so my daughter, unclear on who actually won, was happy.  She's not a talented little girl, at least in the traditional sense.

But she does have more obscure talents.  The girl can talk.  And talk.  And talk.  When she went for a haircut, and chattered on and on through the entire appointment, the hairstylist finally said to her, "I think you woke up with a whole lot of words in your body today."  Even when we shush her in exasperation when we're trying to talk on the phone, for example, or sleep, she can talk and talk about how quiet she is being.  We think talking may be her super power.

And she can contain her puke.  When she got car sick in the rental car on the second day of our vacation, we discovered this talent.  We truly appreciated it.  It was a summer vacation in a hot climate.  She held her puke in her mouth until I was able to get a spare jacket arranged in her lap for her to spew into.  (Having a spare jacket along at all times is actually my super power.)

It may be a reach to say that she is gifted.  But lots of times parents of small children will extrapolate from their children's behavior to future success in some high-gain career.  Shrewd negotiating to get their own way over their parents' objections means children are destined to be lawyers.  Bossing around their little friends means children are destined to be president.  By this reasoning, my child is destined to be a lawyer and the president.  Funny how watching children dance around the house naked, refusing to get dressed, rarely makes parents speculate that their children will grow up to be strippers.  But if it did, our daughter would definitely do that too.  She is clearly destined to be a smooth-talking, puke-holding, exotic dancing president, if she doesn't first become a ballerina, cowgirl, scientist, or professional kazoo player.

Lemonade Stand

Yesterday my daughter and her friend had their first lemonade stand. I'd like to give a shout-out to the people who stopped and bought some lemonade. The kids were absolutely thrilled.

A couple of years ago my friend Kathy informed me that I'm obligated to stop at every lemonade stand I see, now that I'm a parent. I don't think I had ever stopped at one before. Really, who wants an overfilled, lidless plastic cup of tepid Kool-Aid? But, of course she was right.

So yesterday, on my way home from the grocery store in a car filled with melting frozen lemonade, I passed a little lemonade stand a block from my house. And I realized I had to stop, even though I was about to have more lemonade in my house than I knew what to do with. So, I backed up to the stand and bought a cup. The little girl was so thrilled that she actually jumped up and down, shrieking to her little brother, "I sold one! I sold one!" It was kind of wonderful to experience that much joy, and for only twenty-five cents.

So, I went home and helped my daughter and her friend set up their stand, and it was the same thing. It was a hot day, and there wasn't much traffic. In the two hours they sat there, they had only nine customers, and my husband was two of them. But they were thrilled with every sale they made, ecstatic every time a car slowed down. So, thanks to all you people who get it, and who stopped and made my little girl's day.

Two Schedules

Last night my husband and I went out to dinner, and hired a babysitter to stay with our daughter. This was a new babysitter, so I made out a little schedule for the evening so she would know how we do things. It was simple enough:

Eat dinner
Play
Read
Brush teeth and put on pajamas
Bedtime

What I didn't know is that my daughter also anticipated the need for an evening schedule, and made one of her own. When I gave my list to the babysitter, my daughter popped into the room to give the babysitter her list too. Its focus is delightfully different:

Jump rope
Hide and seke
Eat Smartys
Draw picshrs
Play camping
Eat dinner
Play on the cumputer
Wach TV

Looks like I'd missed a few crucial things.