Take a bow....


For a while now, Carly has been quite dramatic. She likes to reenact scenes from her favorite cartoons (educational of course), all in voice and in complete character. For example:

Backyardigans-In a 1940s whodunit type setting, hippo Lady Tasha is robbed during a thunderstorm. Carly stands up, and in a breathy exasperated voice says, "My jewels! My jewels are gone!", puts her hand on her forehead and swoons to the floor.

Finding Nemo-The kid fish have just discovered that one of Nemo's fins is smaller than the other and the little pink squid is relating to his plight. Carly says,"See this tentacle? It's actually shorter than all my other tentacles. But you can't really tell. Especially when I twirl them like this," and then swings her arms back and forth.

About six weeks ago we took a family trip to San Diego. While we were there we visited Sea World thinking that Carly would be in awe of the sea creatures. At the end of the day I asked her what her favorite thing was, expecting her answer to be dolphins, sting rays, whales or sea lions. Instead she said, "Oh, my favorite part was the mime!", referring to the clown pictured, who was featured in the sea lion and otter show. "A mime is a kind of clown who doesn't talk," she continued, "He uses his body and expressions to perform." A perfect recitation of my earlier explanation of a mime.

Tonight, after her bath, Carly asked, "Mommy, will you please sit on the bed? I'm going to start the mime show." Then she walked into the bathroom and closed the double doors behind her. "Let the mime show begin!" she said and threw the doors open. Our funny little actress began to pull an imaginary rope, use an imaginary mop, and to tap dance all in true mime style. And the show didn't stop there.

Every night before bedtime Carly chooses the book that we read together. One of her favorites since a very young age is called The Milestones Project. It is a documentary-style book that focuses on the important stages of childhood. She loves the pictures of all the children and knows exactly who is doing what in each of them. Tonight she said she wanted to choose a book about a mime. "Pumpkin, we don't have a book about a mime." "Let me just look. Oh, here's one! It's called The Mimestones Project," she said, and pulled out the aforementioned book. Then she sat down on Big Bunny (her reading pillow shaped like a rabbit) and pointed out all the things the children cum mimes were doing. "See, this mime is riding a bicycle. This mime is getting a haircut. This is a brother and sister mime. This mime is going to the dentist and these mimes have pets." When she was finished with The Mimestones Project she put it back in its place, mime-walked around her room, and flashed a big goofy mime smile.

Encore, encore Carly! Daddy and I are your biggest fans.