Beethoven

I mentioned before that Jim bought a whole set of "value books" that he enjoyed when he was a kid. Each tells about a historical figure, embellished with some stupid story line about a talking star, or a talking animal, or a talking something that acts as an imaginary friend to the protagonist. Each story is supposed to teach about a value - determination, giving, sharing, caring, hard work, etc.

A couple weeks ago, Ever and I read the book about Beethoven (and ostensibly about the value of giving). We learned about his abusive father and difficult childhood, his hearing loss, and his death. Afterward we looked up pictures of him online. We found this coloring page that she could color:

We pulled out our Beethoven CD and started listening to it - all day every day. Ever became obsessed.

Ever took that picture of Beethoven she colored to share in preschool on her second day of school. Her class is divided into two groups; half share on Monday, and half share on Wednesday. We just learned that ideally they should share something that begins with the letter they are studying that week - like a toy airplane during the "A" week, etc. We didn't know that until a couple weeks in, so Ever just shared random things at first. I figured her teacher would think she was a genius when she showed her picture of Beethoven and talked about how he was a composer, how she loves his music, how he went deaf, etc. I thought about writing his name on the picture, but I didn't bother. After class that day, I asked how the sharing went. She said she forgot his name. (I don't know how that's possible, as she had been talking about him incessantly. She must have gotten serious stage fright.) I asked if she told them he wrote music, and she said, "No, I just said that his dad hit him with a stick." I really wish I'd been there to see the reaction to that presentation.

When I say we started listening to Beethoven non-stop, I am not exaggerating. Ever wants to turn it on first thing in the morning, and then she doesn't want to leave the room when it's on. If we leave the house, she wants to take the CD in the car. She wants to pause it if she goes to the bathroom, and if it's nap time or bed time, she makes me promise that I'll stop it and then, when she gets up, start it right where it was so she doesn't miss a second.

Ella invited her over a day or two after we read the book, and she said, "I don't really want to go because there's really pretty music playing." She disappeared for a while. I thought she was upstairs getting dressed. She returned with the Beethoven book. She said the music reminded her of the book, and she wanted to look at it while listening to the music. I finally convinced her to get ready for Ella's by telling her we could take the CD and listen to it in the car.

Another day I was getting her out of the pool at the end of her swim lesson, and she said, "Can we go and listen to Beethoven?"

One morning Jim left for work, and I was upstairs with Wren. I couldn't hear Ever at all. I thought other kids would probably be getting into trouble, but I never really worry about Ever. When I went downstairs, she was dancing around and conducting the Beethoven music. Shortly after that, I left her downstairs on the couch listening to the CD while I went upstairs to vacuum. When I came back down a full half hour later, she had not moved from the couch. She was just sitting there, perfectly still, listening:

I asked if she were ready to get her swimsuit on for her swim lesson. She said, "No. I want to listen 'til it stops. There's only a little more." (It was, indeed, well into the last piece on the CD.)

Talila Thompson babysat for the first time last month. Her little sister, Lelei, is about Ever's age. When I drove Talila home afterward, she said, "Ever is so smart compared to Lelei. She was telling me all about Beethoven."

One day I said to Ever, "I love you." Ever responded, "I love Beethoven." Then she added, "Beethoven had a hard time. I wish we were his family."

I called Jim as I was leaving the train station the other night after work. Jim said, "Don't worry, but Beethoven is here, and he and Ever are sleeping together. I think it's innocent, though." Ever had decided she wanted to do a sleepover with Beethoven. She also decided to invite him and his mom to go to Mammoth with us - just not his mean dad. Beethoven may be replacing her imaginary sister, Mary, as her favorite fake friend.