Thursday, October 18, 2007

Spinning

"It's a good thing that we aren't able to feel how fast we're spinning around....

"Sometimes when I think about the planet spinning, and spinning around the sun, and the sun spinning around the galaxy -- then I feel a little nauseated."

-- S.C., 4 years old (Dec 2006)

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"If a comet crashed into the earth, would it wobble? Like this?" [Dramatically wobbling little dancing girl!]

-- S.C., 4 years old

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"Would a rocket poke a hole in the sky?"

-- S.C., 4 years old

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"Is there sun [sunlight] in Antarctica?"

-- S.C., 4 years old

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"Why is the sky blue?" [So, we discuss the properties of light.]

"-- Then why is it black at night?" [So, we discuss sensory organs; rods and cones.]

-- S.C., 4 years old

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"What color is camouflage?" [Confusedly, looking over color selection: camouflage -- clearly isn't just one color....]

-- S.C., 4 years old

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Here's 4-year-old S.C. -- in the blue jammies at top of page:

http://www.simmonskids.com/

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Matter and substance

Razheana [not her real name*] is S.C.'s imaginary friend. Weighing herself on the bathroom scale, S.C. comments,

"Razheana weighs zero pounds, because she is imaginary."

-- S.C., 3 years old (January 2006)


[* Is there something peculiar about giving a pseudonym to an imaginary friend...?]

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"Mommy's Hand and My Hand"
S.C. - 3 years old

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"Inside of me is just a skeleton, but on the outside, I'm a girl."


-- S.C., 3 years old
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"Caterpillar and Butterfly"
S.C. - 3 years old

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"I see a Sophia Claire in your eyes. Do you see a Mommy in mine?"

-- S.C., 3 years old

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"I'll be a mommy someday, and you'll still be my mommy, even when I'm a mommy. And I'll have children of my own.

"I wonder, who will they be?"

-- S.C., 3 years old

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Watching a fire engine pass by, sirens blaring, lights flashing:

"Can we pray, when the fire engine goes by? Does it help to pray?"

-- S.C., 3 years old

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Sadly, shaking head slowly and contemplatively:

"In a hundred years . . . in a hundred years . . . in a hundred years, . . . Mr. Rogers won't be here."

-- S.C., 3 years old

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Learning to see

Three-year-old S.C. came downstairs for breakfast, one early dawn. She asked, "Is the sun over the horizon?" Her mom reassured her that the light was peeking over, but that the sun's actual globe wasn't visible just yet. Dawn is S.C.'s favorite time of day, the time when she can most clearly see the movement of the planet and the effects of the sun's light, overpowering the light of all the other suns in our sky. Here is S.C.'s morning haiku, which she later illustrated and set to music.

Catch! the sparkles from
The stars and the moon before
They all go away


-- S.C., 3 years old (Feb. 2006)
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Playing with her toy globe. Contemplating thoughtfully.

"Mommy, how many trips have you made around the sun? I've made three trips around the sun. We say that I'm three years old, but this is my fourth trip. When I've finished this trip, we'll say that I'm four years old."

-- S.C., 3 years old

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S.C. was watching the teakettle on the stove.

"Steam rises up. It doesn't rise down."

-- S.C., 3 years old (Oct. 2005)

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S.C. was pushing a heavy cart at our local Big Box Large-Volume Discount Store. (Ah, inertia!)

"Look, Mommy! These heavy carts push themselves, see? Once you get them going, then they push themselves. ...But then they're really hard to stop."

-- S.C., 3 years old

Love is at work

"Mommy, we're the ocean hugging the shore. You're big, like the ocean, and I'm small, like the shore."

-- S.C., 3 years old

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"Verbs are doing words. . . . 'Love' is a verb."

-- S.C., 3 years old

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"Daddy, you are a tangerine of love! You are a candy cane of love! You are so sweet."

-- S.C., 3 years old

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S.C. asks about Daddy's work, and why he has to leave for work every day. She would like so very much for him to stay home, too. She asks why we need the income he generates, and she listens intently to the explanation: this income pays for books and learning toys, and -- S.C. interrupts, plaintively, anguished --

"Then I'll give it all back!"

-- S.C., 3 years old

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Nascence

S.C. recalls to big brother Nigel that they were once in Mommy's belly. She asks,

"Did we have fun together?"

-- S.C., 28 months old (Sept 30, 2004)

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Sophia Claire comments to her mommy:

"Do you remember when I was in your belly? I was in your belly when I was a tiny baby. Nigel was in your belly, too. And George, too.

". . . Are there more babies in your belly?"

-- Sophia Claire, 27 months old (September 2004)
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Piano
S.C. - 2 years old

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Tendu
S.C. - 21 months old

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S.C. - 21 months old

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Daddy: "What a pretty present! This is called a running suit."

S.C., laughing with delight, "runs" the suit around the room.

S.C. - 19 months old

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Holding a pistachio, laughing:

"Nigel is a nut!"

S.C. - 19 months old

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Exploring and explaining
S.C. - 17 months old

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Wanting very much to learn to write
S.C. - 15 months old

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"Me going shopping now! 'Bye! See you lay-der!"

S.C. - 14 months old

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S.C.'s spot of sunlight on a rainy day
Age 12 months

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"Me kissing Dora!"

"Me feeding Dora!"

"Me swinging Dora!"

Pretending at play
S.C. - 11 and 12 months old

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"Here, Mommy. Now you say it --
'I love you!' "

Teaching
S.C. - 11 months old

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Funny girl!
S.C. - 11 months old

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Turkey ...

Milk ...

Good job!

Dinner conversation
S.C. - Six months old

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S.C. kisses her mommy (since age 3 months)
Age in photo - 4 months old

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Happy baby
S.C. - 3 months old

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Reading my favorite book! ...




The end ...

No-o-o-o-o!
Please more reading!!!

... Reading her favorite book
S.C. - 3 months old

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Nigel, please read to me.
S.C. - 8 weeks old
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Delightful giggles!
while playing an imitating game with Daddy
S.C. - 15 days old

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New Baby!
"Sophia Claire" [a pseudonym] - 5 days old

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