I was listening to Declan tell me a happy story as I cleaned up his Xbox discs. When the final disc was stacked, I turned to look at Declan as he wrapped up his story and laughed.
Noticing something off with the face, I leaned in. Two faded dark rings were under his eyes with a yellowish hue around the edges.
“Declan, what is on your face? Did you fall at school today?”
Declan’s hands went to his eyes. He pulled his cheeks down while sticking his lower jaw out, rigidly shaking his head ‘no.’
“What happened?”
“I put black marker under my eyes at school.”
“Why?”
“Ugh. I don’t know.”
“Who saw?”
“My teacher. She wiped it off in math.”
“Oh. Okay.”
There was no note about the black marker. Why was it there?
Later in the day, random thoughts were in the flow of Declan’s speech. And I hear:
“Starfire cried and she had black rings under her eyes.”
I stand to attention. The light bulb goes off in my brain.
Starfire, from his show Teen Titans Go! The girl character, who wears mascara and had rings under her eyes after she cried.
Math – didn’t Declan’s reward chart say that he had to ask for a break, but before that could not stay calm and did not do the work? Didn’t he lose two behavior points in math today?
And he put black marker rings under his eyes, to be wiped away by the teacher. “See how sad I am in math. Just like Starfire when she cries.” The teacher probably has no idea why he put them there and I just barely figured it out.
I was challenged by bereavedsingledad to join in the 3 2 1 Quote Me challenge on Creativity today.
Before I added my quotes I wanted to share Declan’s story of creativity from yesterday.
Adding circles under his eyes to demonstrate his emotion – that was pretty creative.
Me trying to stay “in the know” when I really have no idea what is going on half the time – playing detective work to put the pieces together – well, I feel pretty creative too.
So, now here we go – quotes.
The Rules are:
- Thank the Selector.
- Post 2 quotes for the dedicated Topic of the Day.
- Select 3 other bloggers to take part in ‘3.2.1 Quote Me
The topic is Creativity.
Thank you to bereavedsingledad for the 3-2-1 Quote Me Challenge!
From one of my favorite authors:
“We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, If This Isn’t Nice, What Is?: Advice for the Young
And another:
“Our task, regarding creativity, is to help children climb their own mountains, as high as possible. No one can do more.” – Loris Malaguzzi
I invite anyone that would like to participate to give it a go! Have fun!
Great post. Great story.
Thank you!
That was so clever of Declan to associate his feelings with another character! AND very clever of you to link the two together 😀
I agree! He is so clever – keeps me on my toes! 🙂
Wait until the heroes he likes have facial piercings. I never thought it would happen to my boys but… well, if you’ve seen an oxen’s ring, you’ve got an idea…
Oh dear!
Declan is wonderful. I could only dream of having the size of his wings. He will soar. I’ve watched a lot of Teen Titans and wouldn’t have put that puzzle together. From now on your nickname will be Sherlock. Love the quotes. Thank you for doing this.
Sherlock! That’s so funny! I sure felt like Sherlock putting all those pieces together 🙂 Sure! It was fun – thanks for nominating me
Your son is definitely very creative. I relate with playing the detective role for them because my son doesn’t share much about things at school. I try to figure out and a lot of times just connecting the dots. Thanks for sharing this 👍🏻
Same! I am trying to figure out the big picture with the little pieces I have been given – can be tough!
It’s definitely so hard to know what is going on with kids sometimes, even ones who can normally tell us. Great detective work!
Thank you!
Am surprised the teacher didn’t do more investigation on why Declan put black marker rings under his eyes. Was he actually wanting someone to give him a literal black eye?
I think he was just sad – but hard to say! I’m always just guessing 🙂
Great post, Robyn, and to make that creative link between the girl character’s sorrowful black marks and to make his own is both touching and wonderfully creative. Well done for working it all out, and well done to Declan for using his imagination!
Thank you! I agree – so clever!