THE LITTLE COMPOSER

Last night, Aleita was being her usual ornery self. She and I had gone several rounds, and she knew she had just about reached the end of her rope. While I was making dinner, she was supposed to be playing in her room, but she continually went into Maggie’s bedroom to pester her instead. Once dinner was finished, I sent Maggie to her room to play until I could get upstairs to give baths. To prevent any further difficulties between Aleita and Maggie, I had Aleita sit in her chair at the table while I did the dishes. She was not particularly pleased that she had to sit at the table while Maggie got to go play, but she did seem to understand that it was a consequence of her earlier behavior before dinner.

As I worked on the dishes, she sat at the table and began to sing, which is frequently the case with Aleita. She often tends to express herself through long, rambling songs. Often times, she will be playing with her dolls or Power Rangers or other action figures in her room and she will have them communicate to one another via warbling operatic verses that she composes as she goes. It is rare that they just speak to one another - - normally, they are all singing. Perhaps we have a little Puccini or Bizet in our midst.

Last night’s composition did not fail to entertain. I thought you might like to hear the highlights (just imagine it sung in a sing-songy, meandering kind of way…) :

I’m sitting here
in my chair.
I want to be
not in my chair.
I’d rather play
in my room
but I have to sit
in my chair.
I am a bad girl
because I’m not a good girl.
If I ran away
no one would come looking for me.
I would go to my Barbie’s house
and stay there because
she wouldn’t make me
sit in my chair…..

*For those who don’t know, Barbie is our good friend who lives a block down the street from us - - Aleita has always referred to her as “her Barbie.” Aleita threatens, on occasion, to go live with “her Barbie” when things aren’t going her way at home. There are moments when I would be inclined to let her - - but I think it wouldn't be long before "her Barbie" would send her right back down the street.