Metal Meredith

When Vivienne was about one and a half years old, we bought her a magic wand. It was silver with a sparkly pink star on top, pink ribbons and pink feathers. We used to watch her wave it around and we would ask her “Are you going to make a wish?” She would answer “I don’t know how!!” and throw the wand on the ground with a giant pout. Phil and I were so worried that she had no imagination. We would fret over the fact that she couldn’t make up a wish.

Things certainly have changed.

Phil had a pen in his shirt pocket one night when he was reading to Vivienne in bed. I am unsure how it all came about, but before I knew it Phil was coming down the stairs, handed me off the pen and said “here, go draw some little guys on her fingers.”

Vivienne has A LOT of stuffed animals. At times, she will baby them, doctor them and feed them. On this day, I walked in to “the feeding line”. She had lined up all of her smaller stuffed animals and went down the line one by one to feed them.

I posted about this once before, but it is too good to not explain again. Vivienne was in her playroom one afternoon and was painting. She came out a few moments later and had painted three brown stripes on her chin. She put my glasses on and said “I wanted to look like Dad!”

Vivienne spent the afternoon outside one day. She was just playing in the backyard with the cats and ran inside. “MOM! I have to make a picture for my friend tree!” She got some markers and a piece of paper and sat down to create. She made a lovely picture of a girl and a tree and some letters that said some long thing like “Dear Friend Tree, I like your leaves. I hope you like to live outside. Be nice to the birds. Love, Vivienne”. She ran back outside and taped the picture to the fence beside the tree. She then found a few of those marker flags and put them at the base of the large pine.

I have more tales that she tells but no photos for them. She has a few consistent imaginary friends. One is a bald eagle named George. She frequently goes on rides on George, to Grandma’s house, to Grammy’s house and other various friends’ houses. She also has a tiny meatball named “Sweetie” that seems to show up in the darnedest places, on the ceiling of the restaurant, under the car, rolling behind you on the highway. Sweetie has been around for a while and I don’t think she will be going anywhere anytime soon.

Oh, and Vivienne has finally figured out how to make a wish.