Helena found my Calvin and Hobbes treasury. Some weekends she totes it about with her constantly. She curls up on the sofa, or amid pillows in my bed, with "her" book. "Je fais comme Mama." She studies the images carefully, page after page. She uses her magic wand as a bookmark.She's particularly taken with those frames where the perspective is of Hobbes as just an ordinary stuffed tiger. I'm not sure what she makes of it, but the more I consider it, the more I see how her relationship with Poilly, the lion handpuppet, mirrors that of Calvin and Hobbes: the sidekick is an inseparable companion, partner in crime, conscience.
Poilly (1, 2) had a birthday last week. He took a few days off from going to daycare with Helena. It seems his next birthday is already fast approaching and Helena is concerned that he'll be bumped up to the next older daycare group before she is.
But Helena is a little more serious-minded than Calvin on the eventual prospect of school. She tells Poilly he'll have to wait outside for her, so as not to disturb her work, so that she can hear what the teacher says. Poilly reacts badly to this, so Helena modifies her stance: he can share her seat with her but he's not allowed to draw on her papers.
Poilly is currently "vacationing" in Laval with Helena's grandmother, but I rather suspect he's been sent away.
1 comment:
I'm so glad you're getting all of Helena's childhood down. I remember a lot of my son's childhood, but there's just as much that's gone forever.
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