Carpe diem.....
Posted by Zoe's Dad at Tuesday, January 15, 2008 12:31 AM and is filed under Star of the Week,carpe diem,wisdom of horace,Favorite Things 
.......As you complete the poster, have fun!! Remember, this is your chance to show the other children in the class just how special your child is. We are looking forward to learning more about our Star of the Week....... or some words to that effect.
Zoë has been selected to be the Star of the Week in her classroom. Our weekend assignment was to complete a poster that was chock full of information that would be relayed to the other children providing them valuable insight into just exactly who Zoë really is. You know, burning type questions that you always wanted to ask but were afraid.
Favorite color---PINK.
Favorite food---MAC AND CHEESE.
Favorite movie---THE LITTLE MERMAID.
I know, I know. You are sitting there as you read this mouth agape and a feeling a numbness is starting to set in. These questions went deep, really deep and exposed the very core of my precious 6 soon to be 7 year old little girl. Hard hitting, no holds barred, strait to the heart of the matter. She was really spent after having handled the barrage of questions, admirably I feel, and rightly so.
What? You mean to tell me that 95 out of every 100 little girls between the ages of 3 and 8 years of age would confess a love of Mac and Cheese and all things pink. Hogwash!! My little star is unique. I refuse to believe anything other.
Favorite song---SEASONS OF LOVE. (From Rent....525,600 minutes....ring a bell? First time she heard it, 1 week ago.)
Favorite toy---BARBIE DOCTOR. (Time of possession, 1 day. It was an early birthday gift.)
I argued with Zoë on these last two that there is no possible way that she can call them favorites as she just heard the song last week for the first time and the Barbie Doctor is not even all of the way out of the box yet.
"But, I love them!" she insisted.
So on the poster they went. It wasn't until much later and a great deal much more profound thought on my part that I realized just how significant those choices were to Zoë. You see, for if you should pose the same questions to her two weeks from now I have a feeling you would probably get a completely different set of answers. Except for the pink thing. God love her, she'll never forsake her love of all things pink. Case in point. Our ballet classes have resumed following the Christmas break and the Nutcracker performance (there was a great post about bon-bons during that time which I unfortunately never wrote because--I'm lazy) and Zia has started taking classes. That's right. I've got two ballerinas now. Zane continues to abstain despite repeated pleas from the instructor.
Anyway, the spring performance has been chosen and the outfits selected. There is a very nice display board in the lobby of the studio. As it turns out, Zoë has advanced to a slightly older class of girls and her outfit for the performance is a stunning purple number. It should look fantastic. However, the younger girls class have an equally stunning pink outfit. Upon seeing this, Zoë immediately began with he questions about why she couldn't wear pink. When I explained to her that the younger girls were wearing that outfit she, without hesitation, asked to be placed in her former class. The girl loves pink!
She's going to look stunning in her purple outfit.
But I digress. I was about to tell you what I garnered from the answers Zoë gave for her poster. Why would she list her favorite song as one she heard for the first time last week and doesn't even know all the words to yet? Or why would she consider a toy that is still in the box her favorite toy? Another perk of being Star of the Week is that you may bring to the classroom two of your favorite items to share with the class. One of the things Zoë selected was a stuffed dog she got out of a kids meal. ON SATURDAY!!! How can this be a favorite?!
This is my take, my insight into the mind of my daughter. You see, Zoë, my little Star, lives in the here and now and everything that is happening in her life TODAY is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to her. Every new word she learns is without a doubt the best word she's ever heard. Every song is the best song. Every book is the best book. Every meal is the best meal. She truly has a zest for life. A zeal for living. A free spirit.
Zoë, at the wizened age of 6 soon to be 7 years old lives her life with exuberance. Like she's been granted a pardon but only on the condition that she never stop smiling. Oh, to live like that, unencumbered by the worries of experience and the realities of life. Somehow, I doubt her class mates will see beyond the list of things, as it were, on Zoë's poster. They probably will not get any closer to or learn anything more meaningful about Zoë than what they feel they already know. But I did. It was a simple weekend project and to 24 out of 25 children, meaningless. But for me it was a bit of an epiphany.
Carpe diem indeed, little Girl. Carpe diem.
Zoë has been selected to be the Star of the Week in her classroom. Our weekend assignment was to complete a poster that was chock full of information that would be relayed to the other children providing them valuable insight into just exactly who Zoë really is. You know, burning type questions that you always wanted to ask but were afraid.
Favorite color---PINK.
Favorite food---MAC AND CHEESE.
Favorite movie---THE LITTLE MERMAID.
I know, I know. You are sitting there as you read this mouth agape and a feeling a numbness is starting to set in. These questions went deep, really deep and exposed the very core of my precious 6 soon to be 7 year old little girl. Hard hitting, no holds barred, strait to the heart of the matter. She was really spent after having handled the barrage of questions, admirably I feel, and rightly so.
What? You mean to tell me that 95 out of every 100 little girls between the ages of 3 and 8 years of age would confess a love of Mac and Cheese and all things pink. Hogwash!! My little star is unique. I refuse to believe anything other.
Favorite song---SEASONS OF LOVE. (From Rent....525,600 minutes....ring a bell? First time she heard it, 1 week ago.)
Favorite toy---BARBIE DOCTOR. (Time of possession, 1 day. It was an early birthday gift.)
I argued with Zoë on these last two that there is no possible way that she can call them favorites as she just heard the song last week for the first time and the Barbie Doctor is not even all of the way out of the box yet.
"But, I love them!" she insisted.
So on the poster they went. It wasn't until much later and a great deal much more profound thought on my part that I realized just how significant those choices were to Zoë. You see, for if you should pose the same questions to her two weeks from now I have a feeling you would probably get a completely different set of answers. Except for the pink thing. God love her, she'll never forsake her love of all things pink. Case in point. Our ballet classes have resumed following the Christmas break and the Nutcracker performance (there was a great post about bon-bons during that time which I unfortunately never wrote because--I'm lazy) and Zia has started taking classes. That's right. I've got two ballerinas now. Zane continues to abstain despite repeated pleas from the instructor.
Anyway, the spring performance has been chosen and the outfits selected. There is a very nice display board in the lobby of the studio. As it turns out, Zoë has advanced to a slightly older class of girls and her outfit for the performance is a stunning purple number. It should look fantastic. However, the younger girls class have an equally stunning pink outfit. Upon seeing this, Zoë immediately began with he questions about why she couldn't wear pink. When I explained to her that the younger girls were wearing that outfit she, without hesitation, asked to be placed in her former class. The girl loves pink!
She's going to look stunning in her purple outfit.
But I digress. I was about to tell you what I garnered from the answers Zoë gave for her poster. Why would she list her favorite song as one she heard for the first time last week and doesn't even know all the words to yet? Or why would she consider a toy that is still in the box her favorite toy? Another perk of being Star of the Week is that you may bring to the classroom two of your favorite items to share with the class. One of the things Zoë selected was a stuffed dog she got out of a kids meal. ON SATURDAY!!! How can this be a favorite?!
This is my take, my insight into the mind of my daughter. You see, Zoë, my little Star, lives in the here and now and everything that is happening in her life TODAY is the most exciting thing that has ever happened to her. Every new word she learns is without a doubt the best word she's ever heard. Every song is the best song. Every book is the best book. Every meal is the best meal. She truly has a zest for life. A zeal for living. A free spirit.
Zoë, at the wizened age of 6 soon to be 7 years old lives her life with exuberance. Like she's been granted a pardon but only on the condition that she never stop smiling. Oh, to live like that, unencumbered by the worries of experience and the realities of life. Somehow, I doubt her class mates will see beyond the list of things, as it were, on Zoë's poster. They probably will not get any closer to or learn anything more meaningful about Zoë than what they feel they already know. But I did. It was a simple weekend project and to 24 out of 25 children, meaningless. But for me it was a bit of an epiphany.
Carpe diem indeed, little Girl. Carpe diem.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2008 5:21 AM
Thorny Path of Seasons Of Love wrote:
Great, This is now on my Thorny Path.
Great take. Live in the now, man.
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Eat, drink and be merry.... I'm still trying to figure it out after 42 years. It took her less than 7.
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Yeah, kids have it all figured out. Then we start messing with their heads and they lose it.
Those posters are fun though, have overseen the completion of a couple. The kindergarten meme in some fashion.
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I've only got four more to do.
The way I see it, I'm going to be doing these same posters for the next 5 years. By the time the twins have completed theirs I should be an expert. Can I just recycle and change the names? Would that be so wrong?
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Oh, to be 6 (almost 7) again and have the ability to do that!
(BTW, on your last comment at my place, Bite Your Tongue!)
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It's a wonderful time!
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Finally! Someone who understands that favorites aren't meant to be stuck in stone - life is fluid and change is good.
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I'm not so sure she went so deep. She also eats boogers! (Just to let you know she's pretty much a normal kid.)
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I completely understand. My favorites change so often that I finally gave up having favorites.
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Funny you should say that. I don't have a favorite color which completely dumbfounds my kids. They were so upset that I would not pick a favorite color that they assigned one for me.
WHITE
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Congrats on her newfound stardom!
And like Pat said, your daughter's first meme. I think you've got a future blogger in the making there!
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Lord, don't tell her that. She loves to hear herself speak.
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I think I understand her on the pink tutu, purple is a colour for old queens - when I say "queens" I mean royal Queens, not...well anyway.
I've just taken my youngest to a performing arts session at a local college tonight, she hopes to be studying there next year, we were shown around by the scarecrow out of "Wizard of Oz", its not like any college that I've ever been in...
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She must have been completely starstruck. Can't wait to hear more about that one.
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