Tuesdays, I sometimes muse on intelligence, genetics (nature vs. nurture), and music on the drive home from work. I have the treat of teaching the 4-yr.old son of the symphony conductor. The little guy is very verbal and formal, meticulous, has a sense of humor, is social without being rowdy, and has a long attention span. He processes verbal instructions, and can also give clear verbal instructions about abstract spatial concepts..."Ms. Nancy, could you please hot glue the spoon onto the red lid so that it can shoot the Martians in this direction?" After several tries we both conclude that the spoon cannot be attached to the syrup bottle lid atop the Rx bottle on the egg carton in the way he wants. I ask him to think about a different way to position the spoon to shoot the Martians. While he is problem-solving, the next kid walks up to me and says, "Ms. Nancy, I have poopy all over my hand." Indeed he does, and he has smeared it everywhere. There I stand holding a very hot glue gun in one hand, and placing my other hand on top of the pooper's hair to keep him immobilized so he won't touch me. I look around for the two most responsible kids who aren't actually reenacting professional wrestling moves to summon adult reinforcements. I give them explicit permission to run in this one-time situation, then I try to get two other kids to stop waving pipe-cleaners near each others' eyes, redirect the attention of the class now getting into the whole poop stand-up comedy scene, while continuing to weave away from the hand of poop like some sort of professorial caterpillar in a Fantasia-esque cartoon. Alas, the messengers have run off in the wrong direction to get help, so I wave the very hot glue gun to point them in the other direction. Now, at my other side, the conductor's son appears. He has found a new solution to the spoon gun problem that he would like to explain to me!
After class I explained to his mother how impressed I am with his verbal and problem-solving skills. She says he loves to build with Legos, but that his creations are always symmetrical. I look down at the junk-art Rover. It is not symmetrical. Maybe I'm a good influence, in my own crazed little tp tube way.
So, it was fun to hear the classical music radio DJ explain that today is Mozart's birthday. Genius, reason, creation, form, chaos, focus, and bodily functions!
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