Some people get songs stuck in their head. The official term for that is "ear worm", which my brain takes all too literally and harkens me back to the tire screeching morning I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a tick crawling on my ear.
Literal bugs aside, we've all had that tune -- sometimes we don't even know the words -- that we just hum or sing all day long...and sometimes in to the night. I have noticed that my brain memorizes things very easily when things are associated with a rhythm or pattern, so it's not unlike me to have a small set of numbers or other pattern that just 'sticks' with me....not as annoying as a tune, but there taking up valuable thinking space all the same. Space I don't have to waste these days.
I've always enjoyed poetry, so it's not suprising for me to have poems or particular lines in my brain. Nothing heavy, and I prefer my poetry to rhyme (and with even flowing rhythm please). (Incidentally, did you know that you can sing almost any Emily Dickinson poem to the tune The Yellow Rose of Texas? Try it, it's fascinating.) So to get to my point, the other morning I asked Big Belle to go get something from her room. I don't remember what it was, but without incident she went to do it (which in and of itself is amazing). While skipping merrily down the hall -- all 10 feet of it -- I heard her chanting "Get what you get and don't have a fit" over and over. I thougth it was cute. Not advice she usually remembers, but cute.
Meanwhile, ClaraBelle was finishing her predictible bowl of Cheerios for breakfast. Really beginning to blossom, ClaraBelle LOVES making up words. She loves making up a lot of stuff, and is beginning to tell some very interesting stories.... The words she makes up used to just be completely nonsense words, occasionally still very babyish. But she is slowly demonstrating some more command of the English language, and throws some words together that, while not intentionally doing so, connect quite well. For no reason -- or none that I knew of -- she announced "Mommy, you know what? It's a great idea like a quesadilla!" Finding that a fascinating phrase, I was intrigued, and wanted to know what it meant. I'll spare you the conversation, mostly because I didn't quite understand it myself, but the gist was that it had no meaning, it was just fun to say. She likes quesadillas, but that had nothing to do with them being a great idea. The phrase just fit.
And so, for the past few days when I find myself having a minute to just "space out", I find my mind coming back to this "it's a great idea like a quesadilla". I love it! Usually, quesadillas turn out to be a good idea. And whatever else goes on, I'm glad to think that she comes into contact with a great idea. So for now, I'm using this ear worm to motivate me throughout the rest of the week. And it's working, because it makes me smile, and it makes me think how amazingly simple, yet more complex than adults can understand, that children are. So go forth people, and as you go through your weekend, whatever you do feel confident that "IT'S A GREAT IDEA LIKE A QUESADILLA!"
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