|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2007 11:56 am
The mild-mannered librarian gasped audibly and felt faint as she stared into the wide blue eyes of a little girl. With the scent of the sea still lingering in the air, frazzled Lisi tried to think of something to say. What do you do with a child who suddenly appears out of nowhere? No...not out of nowhere. From a leaf.
The child was looking at her curiously, seeming to wait for her to speak. To be sure, Lisi had known this would happen...but knowing was much different than actually experiencing it. How was she supposed to act? Like the child's mother? She didn't know what to do.
"Um...hello," Lisi began uneasily. "...Caprice."
Caprice grinned then, showing a mouth full of little white teeth. She giggled loudly, musically. "Momma! Play game with me!"
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Oct 15, 2007 2:58 pm
A small package is delivered to the Larkin household. The parcel was wrapped in a shimmery blue cloth and addressed to Lisirra Larkin and Caprice. Inside it contained a delicate silver charm with a purple starstone.  Along with the trinket was a short note:
Dear Lisirra,
Congrats on your new Eden! I heard about Caprice and she sounds like a real doll. The jewel is for her. It’s from Lunar Fox Jewelers and is called a starstone. It’s supposed to bring good luck to the owner. I wish you and Caprice much luck as you set out together.
Truly, Elda
((If I’m interrupting anything yell at me and I’ll come delete this.))
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 5:44 am
Ever since Caprice had..."appeared" from her leaf, the little girl had spent most of her time giggling, running and playing with the dogs. Lisi was quite unprepared to deal with a toddler - she had no toys or books that were appropriate for a little girl, and her house was definitely not toddler-proof. So that afternoon passed with Caprice blissfully playing with the dogs and Lisi running frantically about, toddler-proofing her home.
Caprice didn't even have a room. Lisi wasn't going to let her just sleep on the couch - how indecent was that? - so she decided to convert her study into the little girl's room, moving her desk into the foyer and a guest bed into Caprice's room. It was bare except for a bed and some shelves at the moment, which made Lisi sad, but she was determined to soon buy the little girl all the things little girls like.
In the evening, when both Reese and he guardian were settling down, Lisi heard the doorbell ring. That was strange enough - she didn't get many visitors. Four dogs barked and jumped up in unison, Caprice jumped up eagerly and followed them to the door, Lisi tagging along behind the pack. Upon opening the door, Lisi found a package and a note; from a lady she had seen around the Eden Project shop.
Unwrapping the package, she gasped. What a beautiful little gem! "Oh, Caprice, look! Somebody sent you a pretty present. See?" She lowered it down to the girl's eye line.
Instantly, Reese's eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. She reached a hand forth gingerly to touch its smooth surface, then looked at Lisi and grinned. "Yes, this is for you," she laughed at her girl's response.
Then Reese's eyes alighted on the shimmery blue cloth that had wrapped the generous gift. Emitting a high-pitched cry of delight, the dolphin girl grabbed it in her little hands and ran it through her fingers, admiring its shininess. Then she put it on her head like a scarf and ran back into the house with dancing feet.
Laughing, Lisi took the starstone into Caprice's room and placed it on the shelf, along with the nice note, then went to her desk to write a thank-you.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2007 12:29 pm
The next day brought a conundrum. Lisi had to go to work...and there was no one to take care of Caprice. She wasn't going to leave a toddler at home all day alone, of course, and her parents were too far away to drop Reese off. Besides, she didn't want to have to explain to them how she had suddenly and inexplicably became the guardian of a little girl with a dorsal fin.
So. The only thing to do was to bring Caprice with her to the library. She didn't want to think about how Reese would be occupied in a quiet place full of books - not much fun for a rambunctious toddler who can't read - from 9 a.m. til three in the afternoon. Instead, she helped Reese into her jacket and listened as she chattered in her baby language, nodding and smiling every now and then when she could understand the words.
The current spattering of babble seemed to concentrate on the dogs. She had learned their names quite quickly - not that she always matched the right name to the right dog - but couldn't quite pronounce them. "Wallz an' Bly got on my bed tis mornin and dey woke me up but i's ok cuz they made me laugh so I got up'n played with em. I's a dog too, see?" she then preceded to drop onto all fours and mimic the dog's bark, frustrating Lisi's attempts to lace up her boots.
"C'mon, silly girl," Lisi said, laughing and pulling Reese to her feet. Latched onto her guardian's hand, Reese continued unabated as they walked out the door into the soggy, gray morning.
This certainly would be an interesting day, to say the least, Lisi thought to herself as the pair trudged through puddles, rubber boots squeaking on the slick gray sidewalks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:22 pm
Lisi peered through the empty bookshelf to check in Caprice. She was still there, thankfully, sitting in the children's section and thumbing through pop-up books. Lisirra had been pleasantly suprised at how well Reese had been able to cope with today's predicament. Though she had behaved herself well at the toy store, it was nice to see she was able to sit quietly every now and again. Of course, about every ten minutes Reese would stand up and dance around the orange-carpeted area to release her pent-up energy, but then she would again sit down and be still for five or ten more minutes.
Still, knowing her daughter's - was that the right word? - energetic nature, Lisi thought it would be a cruel and unusual punishment to require her to be still all day long. That's hard enough on a regular toddler, but for a girl with the soul of a highly intelligent and energetic dolphin, it was that much worse.
It wasn't that Caprice didn't like books; Lisi didn't think Caprice liked them too much one way or the other just yet. Sure, Reesie liked the stories her momma told her every night, but the little girl couldn't make the little black scribbles in those books turn into fun stories like her momma could just yet.
So, closing her book on dolphin behavior - a little side research - and retrieving instead a slim volume, Lisi walked over to the children's section.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:30 pm
Caprice looked up at her momma as she approached, and a great big grin opened up across her face. "Done workin yet, Momma?" she asked hopefully. She knew her momma told her that she needed to be a good girl today, but it was soooo boring here! Just big stuffy adults with tired faces, stuffing their big noses into books. No one to talk to at all. And she liked the books here in the children's corner, but looking at the pictures gets boring after a while.
Caprice stood up to stretch her legs. It was so hard to be a good girl and sit quietly for momma's "li'bary." The little girl took Lisi's approach as a sign that she had a temporary respite from her important job of not disturbing all the old people who were as boring as dry toast.
Since standing up felt so good, Reese thought she might just jump once or twice. And since that was so much fun, she began making all sorts of combinations of fun jumps, hopping on one leg and then the other, then jumping all in a circle. Out of breathe, she collapsed into a fit of hushed giggles as Lisi looked down on her, smiling and shaking her head.
"It's almost time to go home, Reesie, but not yet. You've been doing such a great job today being patient for Momma, we're gonna get you a super-special-secret treat on the way home that I'll tell you about later. But right now, I have just a little treat for you."
Reese's sea-blue eyes lit up. "Oooh Mommmyy! What iss it? What what what isit?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2007 6:53 pm
Lisi smiled and sat down, folding her legs beneath her and placing the little book of poetry on her lap. "Well first," she began. "I want to see if you can do...hmm...fifteen jumping jacks! Quietly though," she added quickly, adjusting her glasses and looking around to make sure her boss was still in his office.
Caprice very nearly rolled her eyes and smiled triumphantly. "O'course!" And she began jumping and waving her arms in a way that was probably not the correct form for a jumping jack, but it was close enough.
"Okay then. Can you...sit down and touch your toes?" Again, Caprice nodded enthusicatially and did so.
"Wow, how about that. Alright, one more thing. Can you...run in place?" Once more, Caprice jumped to her feet and did so.
Now thoroughly tired out, Reese collapsed into a bean bag chair and Lisi smiled, scooted closer to her, and said, "Now, I'm going to read you a very famous and pretty poem. I want you to close your eyes and listen to the words, see what kind of pictures it makes in your head. You see?"
Caprice, wide-eyed with curiosity at this new game, nodded and said, "Uh huh."
"Okay. Close your eyes." And then Lisi opened the book to the page she had marked, to the poem she had picked with the hope that it was the easiest for the toddler to grasp its pretty sounds. This book she was holding, the poetry of ee cummings, was one of her favorites - full of words she hoped to one day share with Reese, when she was old enough to understand them. And she read, pronouncing each word with care, like they were fragile things to behold:
i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of allnothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:36 pm
Reese's eyes stayed closed for a only a beat after Lisi had finished the poem. Then suddenly they opened again, as if she was startled awake.
"Did you like the poem, Reese?" Lisi asked with a hesitant - hopeful - smile. She desperately wanted to instill a love of literature in her ward.
Caprice looked wavered a moment, but then nodded decidedly, a toothy grin opening up her face.
"Okay," Lisi said in a conspiratory whisper, handing Reese some sheets of white paper taken from the copy room and a handful of crayons. "I have a fun idea. How bout you draw pictures from the poem? Would you like to do that?"
Upon seeing the crayons, Reese's eyes lit up. "Crowns!" she cried gleefully, and snatched them up. "Momma, pretty! Pretty crowns!"
Immediately she settled herself on the worn carpet, laying on her stomach and kicking her legs up in the air. Selecting a bright blue to begin with, Caprice began doodling and humming merrily.
Lisi, now ignored, smiled a bit and exhaled. She didn't know if she had accomplished what she wanted - to share her love of E. E. Cummings - but it had been a bit silly anyway. One can hardly expect a toddler to appreciate written words, especially ones so complicated. Shaking her head at her naivete as she returned to the desk, Lis was simply glad that Caprice would have something to entertain her as the last few hours of her shift ticked away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 5:45 pm
"Reesy, careful sweetheart, let me take your rain boots off first!" Lisi cajoled Caprice as she stampeded into the living room like a little elephant, spraying rainwater off her jacket as she went. Lisi paused only to hang up her own raincoat and to greet the dogs each in turn, and then took off after her toddler.
Giggling and squealing with what Lisi could only assume to be the same sort of giddiness her dogs get in the cold, Reese was running around the house like a caffeinated squirrel. Shrieking wordless noises like a banshee, every now and then Caprice would add words such as these: "Momma look! I's a bird! I's flying, looook!" and then would giggle and chase the dogs, excited out of their sleepiness, around the house.
Too achy to catch her at the moment - Lisi was only in her twenties, she shouldn't feel like such an old lady! - the bespectacled librarian pulled out a precious piece of paper from her notebooks and hung Reese's work of art on the fridge.
Admiring it for a moment, Lisi couldn't help but wonder. Reese had drawn ears upon ears...a toddler's interpretation of Cummings. Smiling softly to herself, Lisi enjoyed a moment of satisfaction before she heard a loud crash, a beat of silence, and then the sad, hurt wail of "Mooommyyy!!"
Now that Reese had run herself out, Lisi went immediately to comfort her dear dolphin girl's boo-boo, convince her to take her bath, and then tuck her into bed with a story about princesses and rainbows.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:44 am
Lisirra sighed and hung up the phone. There had to be an easier way than this.
Caprice bounded through the room in great leaps, four dogs following close on her heels and she giggled and tumbled about.
"Watch out for the furniture, honey! Remember what happened last time?" Lisi called, trying to keep the energetic girl from running into a table or bumping into the sofa and hurting herself again. But it was no use; already Reese had tumbled into the next room and was out of earshot.
Lisi turned again to the phonebook, looking for the next entry on her list. There had to be some kind of daycare around here that was both affordable and offered enough stimulating activities for Reese. Lisi certainly couldn't continue to bring Reese to work with her; it wasn't fair to make the little girl sit and be quiet so long.
And then she saw it. Lisi could almost hear a chorus of angels singing in the background.
Miss Samantha Agassi's Enrichment Day Camp for Children
Ages infant through pre-K
Finger painting, reading, outdoor activities, gymnastics, dance, karate
Lisi picked up the phone and dialed right away.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2008 6:38 am
The Journal of L. Larkin Have not had quite enough time to write lately, as I have been blessed (cursed?) with a rambunctious toddler with seemingly endless energy. I only have time to write now because she's busy with her new coloring book, so I have at least ten minutes. (Note to self: Find out if it is possible to harness energy from a toddler. Could solve worldwide energy needs?) In all seriousness, it has been a rough few weeks, but I believe - hope - that I am learning how to be a good mother. Reese is adorable, and just so smart! I almost cannot wait until she grows so I can share all the things I love with her: Austen, Whitman, Cummings, Tolkien, Dumas, Bronte. Another note to self, however: Remember not to push her to love the things you love: let her be her own person. I have a feeling that my own excitement about literature will make me forgetful of her own desires. This will be difficult, but I shall try very hard to remember. Now that Reesey is enrolled at day camp, I can relax at work knowing she's safe, and not just lounging around in boredom. Every day she comes home with paintings she's done and full of stories about her day. I was worried for a while about finding a good place, and while I am still a bit guilty about putting her in what is effectively daycare, she's a lot happier socializing and doing fun things with other kids. So I think it's for the best; at least for the time being. Christmas came and went in the meantime. I'm afraid it snuck up on me: I'm still not used to being a mother for a little girl, and so I bought her presents that are stereotypically girly: -a mermaid Barbie (opened once and then left on the ground) -her new coloring book and crayons -a dolphin bracelet like the one I had as a girl -a few new clothes, even though she's growing so fast now they'll all be too small for her soon (she wasn't happy about the clothes) -a ballerina tutu that she wears constantly now Well, Reese has gotten up from her coloring book and so I have to close this entry. Perhaps in the next one, I can get Reesey to jot a few lines down and practice the letters she's learning at day camp.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:15 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:32 pm
The Journal of L. Larkin Early January of the New Year, SaturdayIn the interest of getting Caprice introduced into the joy of the written word, I've spent the last few days asking her if she would like to write something in mommy's journal. Her response has almost always been with a shrug and a change of subject; once she wrinkled her nose in distaste. I can hardly blame Reesey, though; the girl has so much to do, so much to see, that it hardly makes sense in her mind to waste time at a boring ol' desk bothering with words that she can't even read yet. But this morning, after a breakfast of canned tuna - it's her favorite food now, by the by - Reesey approached me, still her in pj's accompanied by her faithful companion Precious. "Mama, I wants to talk to Mama's book." I have to admit, I was delighted that she had warmed up to the idea of "talking" - her favorite thing besides tuna - as her way of writing her own words. So I scooped her up in my lap, allowing her to watch as I recorded the words she wanted to tell "Mama's book." It took her a moment to organize her thoughts, and in the interim she rubbed her eye with one tiny hand and patted the dog's head with another. The Journal of Caprice Larkin (Interpreted and recorded by L. Larkin.)I like Precious. He's a dog. Blue dog. He wags his tail and licks my face. I like my bracelet. It's shiny. It has dolphins. Mama gave it to me. She has glasses. Not me. My hair is long and black and itches my face when I dance. I like fish to eat. Yummy! I like to run and dance. We do dance at school. I jump! I jump high high! I think I go play now.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 5:57 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:40 pm
The Journal of L. Larkin Tuesday, Early JanuaryWrote only a few days ago, but something worth mentioning has warranted at least a short note. (Reese is eating her tuna sandwich lunch at the moment, so I have time to jot a few lines.) Had a meeting with Reesy's daycare teacher this afternoon. Miss Sam had good things to say about Reese's enthusiasm for the physical activities, particularly her dancing and gymnastics - though she did note a concern for possible ADHD and talking out of turn, the former of which I don't think is a problem, and the latter of which will probably need to be addressed. Have called a few ballet studios in town, looking for an intro class for Reese's age group. Thought perhaps she might want to have more structure, learn from more specialist teachers....might further her interest, allow her make new friends. Or at the very least, a more structured learning system in a subject she loves so much will help her learn when she should listen instead of talk. Have talked to Reese about this and she seems very excited to get to wear her tutu "for real." Will have to consider pricing. Probably will not be able to afford both daycare and ballet lessons. Must think on this. More later.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
