Yesterday morning, as we rushed around getting ready for school, Sophie asked me out of the blue, “Mom, where’s Charity?” I mumbled something in response, thinking that Charity was a girl in her class…since there’s a Trinity, too. But when I walked by Sophie crouched on the floor counting out her coins, I realized that she meant charity as in an institution or an act. “Oh,” I said and I explained to her what a charity is. I used examples like churches or libraries or groups for people who have diseases or some other need…or even for animals. “Would you like to give your money to charity, Sophie?”
Yes. She marched away, listing all the places she would give her coins: the church, the library and a group for animals, the library so they could hire back the people they had to let go because of budget cuts. Then she backed off the charity for animals and asked about what the church does with their money. I explained it to her and later, my mom offered the example of giving money to families at Christmastime who need it to buy gifts for their children and Christmas dinner and warm clothes. And Sophie decided that would be a good one.
I was just so proud of her that she came up with this on her own, obviously after listening to someone talking about a charity whether at church or here at home or on tv…and thought to share her little bit of 8 year old girl wealth with someone else…
How to share things that rock my world as a parent, and encourage other parents to share some with me
How I did it: I write in a daily journal those things that my little one does to make life more interesting and loving. She is the most amazing little girl and sometimes I forget to let her know how special she is to me. But when I write these little things down in my journal, I also remember to write her a letter... and to let her know just how much I love her. I didn't type my entries online as often as I should have, but I did remember to share those important things.
Lessons & tips: Don't forget to share your love and those things that make you joyous with others, especially those who have inspired those feelings. Remember to share your love with those people that are special, because if you wait, you might not be around to share those feelings... or they might not be around.
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Entries
I have some Cherry Vanilla lip balm next to my bed. The other night, Sophie picked it up and said, “Can I try some Cherry Vanilla lip blam?!
Will had a nosebleed. Todd had told him that that could be a sign that he’s growing. So on this particular day when the bleeding started, Will stretched himself out on the floor and declared, “My nose is bleeding! That means I’m growing. I’m happy because I’m growing!”
Wednesday night, he thought he had another one (he’s actually developing a cold) and he proclaimed that he thought his “head just growed!”
I am just so ecstatic about Will’s reading. Last night, as I made dinner, he was flipping through some magazine or comic book and came across Superman with a little balloon over his head. “I..am…the…man…of…” and I finally clued in and looked down to see that he was reading that. “Steel,” I supplied. I just think that’s a big step, isn’t it? that he now looks around him and sees words and tries to figure them out. He’s understanding that all words have meaning…and it’s meaning in which he might be interested!
Later, he and Sophie read some books together. Yes, they’re all fairly repetitive readers from school or the library but he breezed through them.
I think the stars have come together at just the right time for Will, having returned from another country where he was learning another alphabet, other sounds and words; hearing and seeing his parents and sister read all the time; and also, just being plain interested in starting to read for himself. I keep praising him and them commending Sophie for being a good role model and helping him.
Just last week, he would shrug and mutter, “I dunno” when confronted with an unfamiliar word. He wouldn’t even try to sound it out. Now, he jumps right in and often the words come out muddled but he’s not afraid to try. Why do I not remember Sophie’s reading like this? No matter. Now, I can see that she, too, is excited and happy about Will’s reading…
Yesterday at one of the parks, there was a climbing structure that had windows built in it to serve as a bank and a general store. So Sophie immediately positioned herself behind the bank window and instructed me to come borrow some money to build a house…any idea where she could be getting this notion? So I asked to borrow some money and she handed over $1000. “Shouldn’t I sign a paper?” I asked. Yes, this one. Then I had to go to the general store to get supplies to build my house. But the supplies amounted to $2000. So back I trudged to the bank and, having learned from my past mistake, asked to borrow $10,000. Sign some more papers, back to the store to pay for my supplies…then Sophie decided I needed a car. So I had to borrow even more money from the bank and, this time, sign 20 papers! No, 30! I cheated on that part of the transaction.
Once I got my new car, we all hopped in and drove across the park. Will decided that he wanted to walk instead so Sophie and I said we’d beat him and then we were all running across the park, laughing and out of breath.
I guess it’s good how Sophie’s real life is affecting her play life. She is grouchy and tired and unhappy and I think it’s all because we don’t have a house or a yard or any of our things. Maybe if she can work out in her head how this whole bank/loan/money thing works (kind of) and understand it, it’ll be easier to take.
Now if only I could…
On the way to school yesterday, Sophie was jabbering away about school and such when Will suddenly said, in a patient, normal tone of voice, “Sophie, could you just stop talking now?”
Later, Sophie told her dream. She dreamed that she went to McDonald’s and got lots of toys. Lots and lots of toys. Will turned to her and, once again quietly and thoughtfully remarked, “That’s a nice dream, Sophie. That’s nice.”
Today on the way home, I heard Sophie making up some play with acorns as the puppets. The funny voices made Will laugh out loud and they acted out those plays all the way home with Sophie talking in voices and Will laughing. Nice sounds…
Will has a teddy bear named Hour. This bear is really the only stuffed animal he has in his possession right now, the others are all, as we say, on the ocean somewhere.
Well, he’s been saying that tomorrow is Hour’s birthday. Everyday, he says that tomorrow is Hour’s birthday. Finally, yesterday I asked him, “Are we having a birthday party for Hour today ?” and he answered, “No! His birthday is tomorrow!”
Poor Hour. He’ll never get any older.
Hiragana, at least.
Oh, he can sound out English if he is in the mood, but today, he just looked at the train seating chart list of his classmates on the way to the zoo and read them. In Japanese. Then he started pointing out other things around us and reading them.
He can read Japanese. He’s 5. Crazy.
dessert=buzzert
“What’s for buzzert, Mom?”
And tulips? They’re bucket flowers. Because you fill up the watering can and pour water into the inside of the tulip until it tips over and dumps it out. So…
“This is called a bucket flower, Mom!”
Hachimanyama Park has a little pond with a waterfall and some koi and is surrounded by cherry trees, of course. The cherry trees are nearing the end of their bloom and the slightest wind or shake of a tree would cause petals to fall all around like snow. It was absolutely beautiful. Yesterday, Sophie could not seem to be torn away from that pond and would drag me there with her whenever she could. She’d linger there staring into the petals floating on the water and point out shapes made by them, imperfect and ever-changing. I was so pleased and touched by her imagination and her vision. She reminded me of Anne, or of what I always wanted to be as a child: the kind who could find characters and pictures in every cloud or swirl of a flower.
