If you've ever seen the movie, Meet Me in St. Louis, with Judy Garland, you probably remember Tootie, the youngest daughter in the family, the mischievous troublemaker. Tootie had an obsession with all things ghoulish, though not of the harmful kind. Real danger frightened her just as much as anyone, but she had spunk. Tootie and my daughter could have been best friends, albeit competitive ones.
When Kyrie was eighteen months old, she memorized a poem called The Teeny Tiny Ghost by Lilian Moore.
TEENY TINY GHOST
A teeny, tiny ghost
no bigger than a mouse
at most,
lived in a great big house
It's hard to haunt
a great big house
when you're a teeny, tiny ghost
no bigger than a mouse
at most.
He did what he could do.
So every dark and stormy night
the kind that shakes the house with fright -
if you stood still and listened right,
you'd hear a
teeny tiny
Boo!
A teeny, tiny ghost
no bigger than a mouse
at most,
lived in a great big house
It's hard to haunt
a great big house
when you're a teeny, tiny ghost
no bigger than a mouse
at most.
He did what he could do.
So every dark and stormy night
the kind that shakes the house with fright -
if you stood still and listened right,
you'd hear a
teeny tiny
Boo!
She would recite the poem and act it out, ending with a big jump on the "Boo!" She also had a black silk shirt that she borrowed from her daddy and she'd run around the house, arms outspread and flapping, with the silk streaming behind her yelling, "Bust, the Big Black Bat!" The red plush carpeting in our living room was lava and you couldn't walk on hot lava, so she'd build bridges across the living room out of books and toys that would help her navigate across the danger.
At two, my adorable daughter insisted on being a zombie for Halloween. At three, she wanted to be a werewolf. Similar progressions continued until she actually witnessed blood spurting from a stitch-worthy gash on her father's hand. After that, she was not quite as interested in lab experiments and dissecting.She's still unique and fun, an interesting person to know, and she's planning on doing the Zombie Walk whenever possible. But, thankfully, I no longer have to worry about her becoming a sword-wielding murderess. She has a very kind and generous heart, eeeeeeeeevil laugh and all.
(Meet Me In St. Louis image from Reel Classics)
