This week's prompt for Sunday Scribblings is "puzzled":
The arctic winds kept us trapped again. As the clarifying winter sunlight streamed in from outside, I mused what next activity could take us further through the endless-inside afternoon.
Vibrant purple, blue, red, green, orange and yellow plastic shapes shimmered on the floor. I gathered them in my arms, placed them in a candy-striped hinged box and said, "Let's go spell 'cat' on the refrigerator."
"Cat!" he shouted. "I love cat!"
We trotted into the kitchen and plopped down onto the tiles in front of our huge palette.
"C-A-T," I said, pulling out three magnetized letters and placing each carefully on the ivory door. "That spells cat. Caaaaaaatttt," I said slowly, tracing my finger across the letters.
He grabbed a bunch of the letters and smushed them quickly onto the fridge. Too many consonants, letters upside down and sideways. "What does that spell?" he asked, proudly pointing at his "word."
"Hmmm," I said thoughtfully. I narrowed my eyes and drew in my lips, trying to devise a way to actually speak what he'd created: an upside down U next to a sideways G, placed above an upside-down R and M, layered on top of an upright E, a sideways D, and an A.
"Uggerm-eeduh," I said, smiling as I slowly pronounced it.
Peels of laughter answered me. "Say it again," he implored between the snorts.
"Uggerm-eeduh."
"Ha ha ha ha ha! Again!"
"Uggerm-eeduh." Now I was laughing.
Winding down into a sparkling grin, he grabbed another random letter out of the box and placed it next to the A. It was an I.
"What does THAT say?" He tapped the fridge hard, eyes wide and smiling already in expectation of more spoken nonsense.
"Uggerm-eeduh-EYE," I said, placing extra emphasis on the I-sound as I pointed to it. He giggled so much he was almost silent. Then he took a deep breath and reached for another letter.
I puzzled out these evolving words for another fifteen minutes. At laughter intervals, I'd return to ones like "hat" and "hug" to show how letters could form names that were part of his daily life. Because every-day concepts and objects, grounded in reality, should be interesting.
The child mind does not work this way. What's more interesting: hearing your mother say "rug" or "oomeg-erex-quig-idy-thut-ed"?
I let myself fall into the silly magic of sounding out his creations. He made them and laughed and slapped the floor with glee every time I pronounced them. My sounding them out also confirmed that they were real.
Nonsense is relative. Play is crucial. Recognition in parents' eyes means the world. Shared problem-solving creates more understanding not only of the task at hand, but also about each other.
For more takes on "puzzled," go to Sunday Scribblings.
Such a lovely post! Teaching a child to appreciate words in any form is a gift. It sounds like a wonderful exchange. And your last paragraph is absolutely right!
Posted by: Paris Parfait | February 25, 2007 at 04:40 AM
Smiled all through your terrific post remembering playing with my kids and others (as a Speech-Language Pathologist, now a full-time artist). I still play and laugh.
Vivid writing. I can imagine you two!
Posted by: GeL(Emerald Eyes) | February 25, 2007 at 05:10 AM
You've brought back memories of when mine was little.
What fun we had playing with words!
Have a terrific Sunday.
Posted by: Frances | February 25, 2007 at 09:48 AM
What a wonderful picture this paints. The way you describe his laughter "He giggled so much he was almost silent" is perfect. What a lovely way to spend a cold afternoon.
Hope the rest of the weekend turned out just as nice :)
Posted by: waspgoddess | February 25, 2007 at 12:51 PM
loved the last paragraph. Playing with kids is one of the best stress busters.
gautami
Puzzled
Posted by: gautami | February 25, 2007 at 02:29 PM
kg,
This validates the importance of 100% interaction with children, Teaching all the right lessons...pure delight.
rel
Posted by: rel | February 25, 2007 at 02:40 PM
Hurrah!
Posted by: Megan | February 25, 2007 at 02:58 PM
What a sweet moment to be treasured! Thanks for sharing it.
Posted by: Colorful Prose | February 25, 2007 at 04:11 PM
Hello everyone!
Thanks so much for your comments. You've given me new things to think about regarding this kind of wordplay with children.
I've visited you all and commented, also! :)
Posted by: KG | February 25, 2007 at 05:06 PM
thanks for visiting & commenting...and that beautiful quilt is the handiwork of someone in Guatemala...need to edit my post to give credit to the talented unknown.
Posted by: Megan | February 25, 2007 at 06:26 PM
i just stumbled here through sunday scribblings for the first time.
i work with children, so your post makes me giggle and i can picture this moment easily in my mind. ahhhh, the love!
Posted by: Nicole | February 25, 2007 at 07:11 PM
Megan — You're welcome! Interesting info about the quilt, too. It's really beautiful.
Nicole — Appreciation from a professional means a lot. I'll be over to comment on your post in a bit.
Posted by: KG | February 25, 2007 at 09:01 PM
What a beautiful and meaningful interaction you have captured in this post and with a topic I found to be one of the more difficult we have had lately
Posted by: sundaycynce | February 25, 2007 at 10:13 PM
Sundaycynce — Thanks! I enjoyed your story seed so much based on "puzzled" but Blogger wouldn't let me leave a comment for you. :(
Posted by: KG | February 25, 2007 at 10:46 PM
I love this take on the prompt...and I can't wait until my daughter is this age. You really hit how fascinating the child's mind can be with this: "What's more interesting: hearing your mother say "rug" or "oomeg-erex-quig-idy-thut-ed"?"
and this: "My sounding them out also confirmed that they were real." arrested me.
I couldn't find my way into this prompt, so I appreciate the fact that you did so well.
Posted by: Mardougrrl | February 25, 2007 at 11:59 PM
Mardougrrl — I went to your blog in hopes of finding your post on this, as I've enjoyed your writing. I'll look for next week's! :)
It's funny. I was going to skip this week entirely, as I found the prompt difficult, too. Then the weather kept us inside, the letters playing happened, and all of the sudden — post idea! A happy accident, I suppose.
Posted by: KG | February 26, 2007 at 12:05 AM
I'm new to blogging and to Sunday Scribblings - hope to participate this week. Your post had me smiling all the way through and nodding my head at "nonsense is relative" Its not only true about children. When I write free writes it often initially looks like utter nonsense, but then a line or image gets my attention - I find the beginnings of a poem. Thanks for the great post.
Posted by: Kimberley McGill | March 02, 2007 at 05:58 PM
Hi Kimberley — Welcome, and thanks for your comment! Always nice to meet another appreciator of "nonsense". ;)
The prompt is up for this week. I hope to see your first Sunday Scribbling post.
Posted by: KG | March 02, 2007 at 06:08 PM