Methodical Mondays
Monday, April 4, 2011
In which the day is spent in quiet at home…
The wind had been up high around midnight, and it had brought the rain.
In the morning, the ground was soggy, the skies were silver, and the winds were lower.
It was Kitts’ 25th birthday up in Columbus, Ohio.
For the morning…
It was a Whisper Day. In order to attempt to quell the yelling, typical of Puck’s natural speaking voice, Collette practiced whispering with him for the better part of the morning and afternoon. The experiment seemed quite effective.
The windows were opened.
And so there were readings of children in the Americas, the geography of Afghanistan, and an introduction to Africa. Surprisingly, Puck seemed consistently interested in all of the material. A test-run for education in Kindergarten.
And Puck would tell stories to himself and act out endless scenarios. Sometimes when Collette was busy with papers or preparing meals, she listened in on the fellow sitting in the living room with his boxes of knick-knacks or Collette’s empty journals or library books as he told out these imaginations to himself.
Sometime around noon, St. Louis time, Mom and Dad made their six o’clock departure from Lisbon, out into the Mediterranean. And Dad had signed up for rock-climbing on the ship.
After lunch, Puck prepared his schedule for the afternoon…
“Write on my calendar to hunt bugs tomorrow, Mama,” he said importantly.
During Quiet Hour, Puck amused himself with the Yellow Pages.
“I’ll show you what we can make in Heaven!” he whispered with a big smile.
He set the phone book open on the couch to a sketch of a red early 20th century three-story house, and pointed to it.
That evening, OLeif returned late. It was going to be a busy week at work…
I don’t understand
how “good” English
and five times two is ten
can help buy us more food
and extra blankets.
But Mama says it can
and she never lied to me.
So I ask my teachers,
but they don’t tell.
I bet they know.
Why won’t they say?
– Nikki Grimes