Alice Puppets

Alice is doing that "growing spurt" thing again. Body and mind and spirit are exploding into a little personality all at once. Her latest tricks include turning her arms and legs into people whenever she needs a extra playmates. We'll be driving in the car when she suddenly starts making funny voices and putting "kids" in time out for instant sins (hitting, throwing toys at people, and the newest sin of leaving the church building without an adult). The kids are her hands and feet. This girl doesn't get many time outs, but they're apparently something she wishes to understand better.

Then at home, when washing her hands, she'll decide the "baby needs a bath" and she'll rub soap all the way up to her left elbow. The "baby" sometimes talks back to her asking for more bubbles, commenting on the temperature of the water, and/or crying for fear the water will get in its eyes. She speaks to it like we speak to her, usually, minus all the choices, "Dat's okay, Baby. Yook up and noooooo water in yers face. See?"

Alice made a hand puppet the other day. All by herself. I was distracted with the computer, Bobby was working in the back, and Alice happened upon a piece of junk mail. The trifolded piece of paper inspired her, I guess. She colored on it, deciding it was a letter for Grandpa, then refolded it and suddenly got excited. She asked for tape. I asked her how many pieces she would like. She replied, "Yots! My make puppet!" My raised eyebrow didn't seem to deter her. Thirteen pieces of tape later, she took it for a test run by putting her hand into the trifolded tube and bending it over...sort of like a puppet you make with a paper bag. The tape was placed NOWHERE helpful to keep the tube closed and she got very frustrated. She demanded more tape. I told her she had enough tape already and that made her even MORE frustrated. Bobby intervened in a very diplomatic way, asking each of us to explain our reasoning before he found an excellent middle ground (i.e. he helped her move the 13 pieces of tape from useless places to helpful places).

Alice was tickled to see the puppet work, and I was blown away at her creative spatial reasoning. It scared me a little, actually, to see her turn a 2-dimensional object into a 3-dimensional object with voice and personality (no surprise that it was an "eating puppet", though, voraciously chomping whatever looked tasty). A flood of questions soon followed: What other skills of hers am I underestimating? How can I assist her growth without artificially pressuring it? She's still so young, but I see her growing capable of more every week. Do I expect too much of her in some skills (i.e. recognizing letters and numbers, personal/social interaction) while neglecting other skills (i.e. art, music, motor skills)?

These aren't guilty thoughts, but curious ones. I generally feel like I am a good parent providing a generally good environment for my child to grow in. It's moments like these, though, when she totally surprises me with some new skill or behavior, that I decide it's time to pay close attention for a while. Time to shut off auto-pilot and reassess this little creature's life and habits. Time to watch her play. Just get to know her again.