Short Person and the Magic of Dr. Seuss

Since our family's Christmas presents this year are to be based on books, I rushed to the library. Ten minutes until it closed, I didn't care what I grabbed off of the shelf to bring home, just so long as I could carry it and just so long as that stack included Dr Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham".

The book is great. Not only did I think I could use it somehow, but I was really looking forward to sharing it with Short Person. I love the rhythm and intonation that is found in the words. The way you can play your voice to dramatize the stanzas and bring the pages to life.

I got it home and Short Person and I spent about an hour reading and looking through the stack of 25 books I had managed to wrangle off the shelves and bring home. We ended the story-telling adventure with "Green Eggs", and I delighted in the moments when she'd laugh or scrunch up her face, or roll her eyes.

When we finished, I went back to work and she went into her room to play. After about 15 minutes, I could hear her reading a book to herself. It was one she had memorized, "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed". Over and over she'd read it, each line different as she played with her voice and emphasized different stanzas. Over and over she'd recite the sentences, playing with the rhythm and pitch.

Sometimes the big things can be found in the little things.

It seems weird to say that I'm proud of that moment, but I am. It's one of those times where the things that are deeply entrenched in my genes surfaces in Short Person and I stare in wonder at the magic of it. Knowing that I had a small part in bringing it to the surface and letting it play. Knowing that pieces of a creation generations ago still live, dominantly in the new... it's enchanting.

Today, in a small way, I showed her voice. Voice in more than just what it means to talk and make sound, but voice in a way that can make words breathe.

Tonight she told me that she wanted to be on stage. She wanted to know why Miley Cyrus could do it and she couldn't. I told her that the only thing holding her back was the fact that she was only 4 and that as long as she practiced, I didn't see any reason why she shouldn't.

I wonder, when I grow up... what will she be?