Regrets, Successes, 20 years
Sandra Dodd
I was looking for a story to quote at http://sandradodd.com/service. I didn't find it, so I paraphrased. While I was in my Kirby Diary, though (a word file I have kept safe when other word files were allowed to slip through Macintosh cracks in the transfers from one computer to another over the years)... I found these, right next to each other.
I wish I could go back, set the clothes down, and hold Marty. That one I regret.
I don't regret the discussions, though, and I thought these might be good to bring out as examples of dialog that I think worked well.
Spring 1991 was the time we decided not to register Kirby for kindergarten, but register to homeschool at least for that next year. He turned five in July 1991. He will turn 25 in 2011. Marty was born in January, 1989, so he was two and a few months.
Fri, Apr 19, 1991
Marty was grumpy after a nap, and wanted me to hold him, but I was putting away clothes. He and Kirby were sitting on Keith�s bed, and I was saying, �Do you hurt?� And Marty, crying, said �NO.� �Do you need a diaper?� �NO� �When you were sleeping did you have a scary dream?�
Kirby: �Yeah, Marty, did you dream that you were up on a bean stalk and a giant was chasing you and you were really scared and you didn�t have a diaper on and when you were sliding down the beanstalk it was hurting your bottom?�
Kirby had just said it all so fast and with so much feeling, I thought maybe he�d had that dream (because he�s expressed the idea before that Marty will dream the same dreams he does). So I said, �Kirby, have you had that dream?�
�No, never! I was just asking Marty if he had.�
Tue, Apr 30, 1991
Marty likes to take the five Lego horses, put them in a big basket, and say they�re his babies. Kirby didn�t want him to do it today. I made Kirby leave him alone, and so Marty put the horses in the basket and I gave him a flannel baby blanket, and he was very happy. After a while, in the other room, I hear Kirby saying �You know what these are? They�re not babies. They�re just toys.� and I hear �tap tap tap� like Kirby�s tapping on the plastic horse to emphasize that they�re not babies.
I called Kirby in where I was and said �don�t do that to Marty, that�s mean,� and Kirby said really pretty innocently that Splinter was saying that, that Kirby wasn�t saying it, that he was just making Splinter say it. I told Kirby it would be mean of me to say �This isn�t really Splinter, it�s just a toy,� and I tapped on his head with my fingernail.
He looked thoughtful, and said, �Well I can play with Splinter however I want to.�
�Okay, but you can�t play with Marty however you want to. How�s that?�
�Not very good.� he said.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I wish I could go back, set the clothes down, and hold Marty. That one I regret.
I don't regret the discussions, though, and I thought these might be good to bring out as examples of dialog that I think worked well.
Spring 1991 was the time we decided not to register Kirby for kindergarten, but register to homeschool at least for that next year. He turned five in July 1991. He will turn 25 in 2011. Marty was born in January, 1989, so he was two and a few months.
Fri, Apr 19, 1991
Marty was grumpy after a nap, and wanted me to hold him, but I was putting away clothes. He and Kirby were sitting on Keith�s bed, and I was saying, �Do you hurt?� And Marty, crying, said �NO.� �Do you need a diaper?� �NO� �When you were sleeping did you have a scary dream?�
Kirby: �Yeah, Marty, did you dream that you were up on a bean stalk and a giant was chasing you and you were really scared and you didn�t have a diaper on and when you were sliding down the beanstalk it was hurting your bottom?�
Kirby had just said it all so fast and with so much feeling, I thought maybe he�d had that dream (because he�s expressed the idea before that Marty will dream the same dreams he does). So I said, �Kirby, have you had that dream?�
�No, never! I was just asking Marty if he had.�
Tue, Apr 30, 1991
Marty likes to take the five Lego horses, put them in a big basket, and say they�re his babies. Kirby didn�t want him to do it today. I made Kirby leave him alone, and so Marty put the horses in the basket and I gave him a flannel baby blanket, and he was very happy. After a while, in the other room, I hear Kirby saying �You know what these are? They�re not babies. They�re just toys.� and I hear �tap tap tap� like Kirby�s tapping on the plastic horse to emphasize that they�re not babies.
I called Kirby in where I was and said �don�t do that to Marty, that�s mean,� and Kirby said really pretty innocently that Splinter was saying that, that Kirby wasn�t saying it, that he was just making Splinter say it. I told Kirby it would be mean of me to say �This isn�t really Splinter, it�s just a toy,� and I tapped on his head with my fingernail.
He looked thoughtful, and said, �Well I can play with Splinter however I want to.�
�Okay, but you can�t play with Marty however you want to. How�s that?�
�Not very good.� he said.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]