Oblivia

Sometimes we joke around and call Olivia "Oblivia". Don't fret, it's all in fun and she shouldn't be too deeply scarred by it.

But, today I was realizing something. We call her that because she does not appear to be paying attention most of the time. She trips and falls often, walks into traffic (or trees or people or poles), and often asks "What?" in the middle of a conversation we are all having and she didn't catch any of it.

Today it occurred to me that it isn't that she is NOT paying attention.....but rather.....she is paying attention to OTHER things than the majority of those around her. She observes different things. She might walk directly into a pole, but she can tell you how many brick paver blocks we passed by on our block because she was counting them. She might walk into traffic, but she can tell you exactly how many steps it takes to get from one sidewalk to the other as she crosses the street. She might miss an entire conversation happening at the park, but then she might say something like this (and I quote her from yesterday) "Mom. I want to tell you something I observed. I don't want to sound like I'm racist or anything, but it is just an observation. I notice that quite often I see white babies and children with their nannies...and their nannies are not white. They are hispanic or black. Did you ever notice that?" First of all, I love when she says things like "I want to tell you something I observed". Secondly I think it is kinda sad that she has to clarify herself and "not being racist" simply because she did observe people who have different skin colors or ethnicities. But, that is the world we live in, so she was being appropriately sensitive I guess.

She gets excited sometimes over the most random things. The other day, we were discussing something and out of nowhere she blurts out "I learned to write the letters "c" and "d" in script." ONe morning this week, before she went to school, she just jumped up and said "I need a new journal. I need to write something down!" So I reminded her that she has a minimum of 10 journals, each with their own individual purpose, stored under her dresser. She said "No, I need a new one. This one if for writing down things that I observe and things that I notice and what that makes me think of..." So, she went to her stash of journals and dug one out. Next things I know, she's sitting on the couch writing in a journal. But, when I looked in her room, I see the rest of the journals strewn about, along with several torn pages that she ripped out of the journal she was now using. When I asked why she did that, she said it was because that journal was going to be for writing things down about moving from MI to NY, but now it was for this new thing and she couldn't' have pages in there that were written on already. Anyways, after she went to school and I was cleaning up, I saw that journal sitting there and looked at what she wrote. It said "The trees stand tall and alone. And I am like the tree." Then it said "the clouds are white and fluffy. It looks like cloud men are on them, throwing hail stones right at us."

That was the reason she urgently needed a "new journal".

Some of her other journals and notebooks are specifically for inventions, drawings, stories, poems, prayers, fairy tales, memories, and lists.

Olivia is moody, creative, smart, talented, messy, playful, adventurous, and curious.

I am learning to truly appreciate our Livvy for the "artist" that she is. My brain does NOT function in an artistic way. So, it is interesting and confusing for me to grasp how she thinks.

We have fun calling her "oblivia". And this week I told her we could start to call her "Taz" after the tazmanian devil who leaves a path of destruction wherever he goes.....but I wouldn't trade ONE THING about her. She is so awesome. So interesting. So unique.