Yesterday I had the opportunity to eavesdrop -- and occasionally participate -- on a 40-minute-long conversation between a 3-and-a-half-year-old and a five-year-old. As I drove Will and his friend Simon up to a pirate birthday party in Harris County, I realized what fun it is to listen to kids talk to each other – their ideas bouncing strangely off one another as both are so eager to share their own stories. Will and Simon discussed whether an airplane Will spotted was really a spaceship, whether people kill trees by shooting them or cutting them down with swords (or using chainsaws as I proposed) and what sort of pirate treasure would make Simon's younger brother, Alex, feel better since he couldn't go to the party. While Will shared stories about his playground play at school (delivered with wholehearted enthusiasm and tolerated by an obviously not-so-impressed Simon), Simon shared stories of killing aliens every night, digging for pirate treasure in his sofa and shooting bad pirates. Often Simon would ask Will after making a statement, “Is that funny?” And Will would invariably laugh and say, “Yeah, that’s funny.” Occasionally when Will was in the midst of a long obscure tale that I thought Simon probably wasn’t understanding, I’d start to ask Will a clarifying question so Simon would know what he was talking about. Will would brush me off with a quick, “Mom, I’m talking to Simon!” So I learned to be quiet and enjoy the soundtrack of two boys talking it up.
(By the way our pirate party hostess, Shannon, had plenty of clever ideas if you’re thinking of hosting a pirate party any time soon. She printed maps, with individualized directions to help each child find a treasure hidden in various locations on a hillside.
The loot included cross-skull flags; hand-painted foam swords adorned with plastic jewels; and animal cracker boxes painted like treasure chests, each containing a bag full of play gold coins among other goodies, . And there was a pirate-themed cake and piñata too. Will has been playing with his pirate paraphernalia and periodically shouting “Argh!” ever since.)
Here's Captain Cavan, newly 3:
2 comments:
oh, I'm giggling again! That's good stuff, all that socializing on their own terms, with their own expression. Much better than we can "arrange" for them as Moms. My 6 year old definitely does not take kindly to me explaining something for her. She has the best way with her own words. he brought home a journal from this year of kindergarten and it was complete with pictures about and, towards the end of the year, sentences describing her days. It opened my mind and made me smile to see each day from her perspective, so different than mine.
Hi Annie -- Robin from Photo here ... so much fun stuff on your blog! wanted to let you know about the Kindermusik Adventures that start in June at the Turner Center at CSU - part of their continuing ed stuff. It looks very interesting ... http://conservatory.colstate.edu/kindermusik.asp
Cheers,
RT
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