RAiMi
We’re getting ready for Valentine’s Day parties at both boys’ schools. Kinnell is really sick this week so he may have to miss his, but tonight we got started on Raimi’s valentines. He picked out princess ones for the girls and power rangers ones for the boys. Gender role rigidity not withstanding, I think it’s nice that he’s thinking of what the recipient would like rather than just what he would like.
The problem is, when he has to do something repetitive he gets extremely bored and complainy. I’ve seen kids who aren’t like this — the feeling of mastery makes them enjoy repeating a task. Practicing for the Christmas program at his school was horrible to Raimi. He told me “It is so boring! We sing the same song, over and over!!!” He got in trouble a lot in December.
His solution when it comes to writing his name is to do it using increasingly creative styles for the letters. Here is a picture for posterity. I just asked him to write his name one more time. After grimacing he got started, then drew the extra swoosh on the a, saying, “here’s a funny A.”
So anyway, while we were signing valentines, he was writing his name for the sixth or so time, smiled and said, “The A is doing ballet. The A is doing ballet.” It was extra skinny with a long crossbar. He kept repeating it until I nodded and said, oh, uh-huh. He continued, “see, the R is totally rockin’ out. He’s rockin out, neah, neah neah!” He made rockin out air guitar gestures and facial expressions.
He went on, “The i is looking up to the sky. The M is normal. He’s just looking at me. The i is just normal. He’s just looking at the M.”