Sometimes Art gets preoccupied with something worrisome and can't shake it. Yesterday I read Peter Rabbit to him. In the very beginning the mom warns her bunnies not to go into Mr. McGreggor's garden because the papa bunny went there and ended up in a pie (!). That concerned Art. So when Peter Rabbit was in the garden and did end up tussling with Mr. McGreggor Art asked me, very worried, "Is Mr. McGreggor going to eat him?" At first I said I didn't know, that we had to read the story to find out. The second time he asked if Peter would be eaten I said that Peter does NOT get eaten, but I don't know how he gets away. We'll have to read on to find out. The third time he asked he added, "And don't say that again, that we have to read the story," so I didn't say it, but I still said that I didn't know how he'd get away. Then he didn't want to see the picture of Mr. McGreggor, because he was mean. Apparently this story was too much for Art, but we got to the end, Peter got home to his mother and was safe in his bed.
The next day, today, my mom watched the kids while Ben and I had a lunch date. Out of the blue Art asked Bubbe if she knew about Mr. McGreggor. They talked about the story and Bubbe reminded him that Peter got home and had tea and was just fine. Well, when they went upstairs for naps Art wanted to put that book away so he didn't have to see Mr. McGreggor. I feel bad for having scared him so much with that story. Who knew?!! He likes Baba Yaga, the Russian witch who eats little kids!! I think it's the suspense that drives him crazy. The story going on and on with delayed resolution, like the Little Bear story about the goblin who jumps out of his shoes. He hears a loud crack and jumps out of his shoes and for the rest of the story is running away from a pit-pat sound that ends up being his loyal shoes following him. Art wasn't scared of the goblin or the idea that shoes could run by themselves, or the fact that something was chasing the goblin. Art was completely fixated on the original cracking sound in the first few sentences of the story. What was that loud sound? He asked me several times while I read the story, asked me again what it could have been while I kissed him goodnight, offered a possibility ("Maybe it was a branch falling on the ground!") while I was in my room putting on my pajamas and another possibility ("Maybe it was the wind knocking down a tree," 20 minutes later when I came upstairs to brush my teeth. This is another one of those personality traits that will do him good someday. For now it seems like a little bit of a burden...
1 comment:
Nora used to be fascinated with a book about colors that portrayed the color red with a picture of a house on fire and fire engines and fire fighters saving a woman leaning out of a window. It was kind of shocking, actually, to turn the page in this sort of innocent book about colors to this sort of horrifying scene all of a sudden. She would want to stare and stare at that picture and ask over and over again about whether the lady was OK.
That's what you get for having really sensitive kids. That Art is noticing everything and really thinking about it. It's nice that he wants to talk to you about it all. That's also a nice trait for when he's a teenager...
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