Bloody Fish

Apparently, my kid is the "interesting kid" at school. Allow me to explain.

Caitlyn started preschool this year, and she attends 3 mornings a week. Now, let me first say that I really love her school. It is a co-op, and all of the parents have to commit to helping in the classrooms and take on a major job to keep the school running. It has a strong reputation around here, and it is VERY difficult to get a spot. That being said, a lot of the parents are almost . . . cultish about the place, and the first question most of them seem to ask is how long we have been involved with co-op, as if there is a prize when they "beat" us with time. These are all really hands on, in your face, totally absorbed in what their kids are doing. I mean, I've always known I have those same traits, but these people are EXTREME.

Anyway, Caitlyn loves it, and I think it is a great place for her to play and learn.

Yesterday I went to pick her up, and one of the parent helpers came up to me while I was gathering her things, among them a painted paper fish on a stick.

"Oh, I see you found Caitlyn's fish. She was, uh, really creative with her painting. Umm, ha ha, we read The Rainbow Fish, and, ah, Caitlyn said she wanted to paint the fish's guts instead of his shiny scales. Ha ha ha. Where do they come up with this stuff?"

I must of given her a totally blank look because she continued, "Oh, really, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that, I was just surprised that she wanted to paint his blood, and uh, his organs. She also, um, ah, took off his eye. What a, hmmm, special little smartie she is. Ha ha."

Great, I thought, this lady thinks my kid is Morticia and needs to see a shrink because she didn't want to paint shiny scales! I'm guessing that painting blood is #3 on the list of things to watch out for in art class, right below only using the color black and drawing knives.

I just told her Caitlyn is really fascinated by skeletons and body parts and that she just visited an aquarium with models of fish. I also told her that one of her grandfathers is a Biology professor, and she likes to visit him at work to see the models.

We said good bye to everyone and loaded up in the car. Caitlyn was so proud of her fish, and she told me all about it.

"I used red to be his blood because blood is all over your whole body. This purple part is his bladder, and that green is part of his guts."

When I asked her why she took off his eye, she told me, "His eye is on the outside of his body, so I took it off cause I wanted to draw his insides."

Hmm. Makes sense to me. Nothing remotely demonic about that. I'm proud of her for knowing about those things and not being afraid to paint what she wants when everyone else is doing something different.

Maybe if I took this picture in to show Room Mom she would feel a bit better:

I really hope, for her sake, that this lady isn't working when the kids start drawing pictures of people because Caitlyn draws two circles within each other for the head- one for the skull and one for the brain. She also adds a heart and lungs to bodies.