i set her up this afternoon with some plastic canvas and a plastic needle and some yarn and floss. and to say “she went to town” is an understatement.
sometimes when claudia is drawing, she gets TALKING — a serious stream-of-consciousness that seems to be coming from some OTHER consciousness, as i often hear her use words and phrases i had no idea she ever knew. she has also done this while “knitting” on her own (tangling yarn and cable needles), and again, today, while working on this “NEEDLEWORK”, which is what she called it, as she moved busily from seat to seat in the house, saying “I’VE GOT TO FINISH MY NEEDLEWORK,” and “WHERE IS MY NEEDLEWORK?” she had a really good time. but this type of structured activity really seems to open up something in her mind. i know the feeling!
at one point, ben and i were at our laptops at the kitchen table, with claudia to one side of us, stitching, and béla at the other side, paging through highlights magazine. it was lovely.
