Another Idea

Someone I know recounted the following conversation he or she had with his or her son or daughter last night (OK - I'm being vague to hide their identity).

The child, of elementary school age, asked the parent if the first people on earth were grown-ups or babies. A perceptive question, I think. The parent replied that according to the bible, God created two fully grown people, Adam and Eve. Then the parent added (I am not paraphrasing):

"And there is another idea called evolution that's based on fossils and stuff..."

Vivian - when you have questions about the origin of humans, I wonder who will tell you what.

Sugar Breakfast

This morning Mommy left us to our own devices. We hurried over to Upper Crust Bakery. I said "Hey Vivian - what do you want?". My bad. She very precisely replied "A chocolate cup cake with icing and sprinkles". Me "Uh - how about those lovely looking blueberry muffins instead". She "No".

I topped it off with a chocolate milk for her. We sat and chatted and Vivian first licked the icing off and then ate about half of the cup cake before she had had enough sugar. We got back home and Vivian helped me make a spinach tomato Canadian bacon two egg omelette. And she ate a clementine while I enjoyed my breakfast.

You could say that I am eating sugar vicariously through Vivian.

Scribbles and Drawings

For some time now, Vivian notices when people write. And she imitates it by making squiggles on paper - made very carefully between the lines. Occasionally she tells us she's writing "cursive" and then the squiggles are loopy and continuous. Once she even interviewed me with pen and book in hand, firing off questions and jotting down answers. Here's a sample page-full of notes:

Tonight after dinner, she told us that she was drawing us. First if was "mommy when she's not happy". Then it was "Mommy when she's happy". The first few sketches looked like later Picassos. But one could see she was beginning to work out the placement of eyes and representing a mouth and things like that. After a while she came up with her first fully rendered face. She got it over to show it to us and repeated the subject several times. "Daddy feeling quite happy". I am. In spite of the resemblance to Frankenstein's ugly twin brother.

Cup Cakes

Jo went to the store and returned with stuff to make mini-cup cakes for the Valentine's Party at Nicolle's church. On Friday evening, Vivian pulled her chair up to the kitchen counter and Mommy and daughter started baking in earnest. Vivian loved it. Specially the batter.

The finished product looked very good. I'm told they tasted good too. Me - I was pretty happy with how the batter turned out.

Dino Again

When we were driving back from the Shahs, Vivian noticed that there were several deer sitting in people's front yards.

"Daddy, why are the deer sitting there?".

I replied that it was dark and they were getting ready to sleep.

"Daddy, where is the deers' home?".

I explained that animals slept out in the open.

"Where do animals in the jungle sleep?".

I mentioned under trees, and on trees and some such other things. Then we went down a list of animals and where they would sleep. Monkeys, tigers, lions, elephants, etc. Soon we came to dinos (as she now calls dinosaurs).

"Well Vivian - there aren't any dinosaurs alive today. When they were alive, they slept in the jungle too".

"Why aren't there any dinos alive today?"

"Because they are extinct - many many years ago they all died".

"Why did they all die?"

"One theory is that something happened that killed them all - like a big rock that fell out of the sky".

"And then what happened?".

"The rock made a big hole in the ground and kicked up a lot of dust and it got dark for a long time and the dinosaurs ran out of plants to eat because plants need sunlight to grow".

When we got back home, Vivian explained the whole thing to Jo - along with smacking her hand on the carpet to indicate how the rock hit the earth. Then she said "so all the dinos are dead". Jo glared at me and said that Daddy didn't know what he's talking about. To which Vivian said "We'll find some dinos! Daddy - rocks don't fall out of the sky".

And a few minutes later she was gently snoring in her bed.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Vivian is terribly excited about the upcoming Daddy Daughter Dance organized by her school. Long before we got any official indication from the school, Vivian came home from school one day and breathlessly explained that there was going to be a daddy daughter dance.

Since then, we occasionally practice. And each time we talk about it, she mentions that it'll be a "little dark". I have no idea where that is coming from, but she already has a mental image about what it's going to be like, and it involves mood lighting.

This evening Vivian was dressed in her pink chiffony dress and said that we were getting ready for the daddy daughter dance. When I said that it wasn't till next week, she said

"Just pretend, Daddy".

And then she added:

"Daddy will wear a bow tie. And it will be a little dark."