Squanto

 The 2010-2011 time frame marked Cheese's kindergarten year...so much to learn. SO much to know. Cheese already knew lots of things when she started school, like her colors, some of her numbers, how to cut things, and how to color. (You would be surprised by the alarming amount of children who start school never having held a pair of scissors or having colored in a coloring book.)

The months passed and she learned various things from her teachers. But approaching the holiday season she began to learn about the first Thanksgiving. Know not of the pilgrims, does she. The only person this child recollects any information relayed to her about the first Thanksgiving is Squanto. Sure we all know the story of Squanto. The first American Indian to help the pilgrims survive their first fall & winter here in the Americas. "He teached them to grow corn and stuff." "He knowed how to fish real good."We learned various things about Squanto over the course of Thanksgiving.

At our school we have "treasure box", a wonderful bin filled with discarded kid meal toys of yesteryear, crap from the dollar store among other fabulous find, like stuffed animals that this mom continually donates only to find that is what my child chose in the treasure box for her good behavior or class participation. (I learned very quickly to donate it to OTHER classrooms so I quit getting it back.) One day during the teachings of the First Thanksgiving, I guess my Cheese was on her best behavior and got to go into the treasure box only to arrive home with this.....

A BEAUTIFUL plastic figure of an Indian. She was so thrilled with this figure, she came home with SQUANTO!!! (Isn't he glorious? I love the sheen of his plastic.)

She rattled off random "Squanto Facts" to us over dinner, as he danced across the table. "Be careful, He'll shoot you with his bow. That's how he got his pee pee cloth, he shot a deer with his bow. It might hurt."

We played "hide and Squanto seeks" all evening with him peeping around our dinner dishes. Soon the dishes were cleared and we were preparing our two oldest, Cheese and Man for bed, 6 AM comes early to them. She quickly bathes and runs to her room to get dressed. As I am finishing cleaning up the dinner mess she comes around the corner with this very very serious face and asks for a towel and a box. When I ask her why she proceeds to tell me that she needs to make a bed for Squanto to sleep in.

I help her construct this bed for Squanto. We use an old piece of scrap fabric, and a pillow from her baby dolls. I suggest the Barbie bed but she says it is too pink. (Please keep in mind that he only moves at the waist, neck and shoulder joints.) She tucks him into his bed made of a blanket and pillow on her art desk stool and scoots him next to the bed.

She climbs into her bed and I quietly kiss her forehead and tell her I love her. She makes sure that I tell Squanto good night and that I also kiss him. (Good thinking on my part for cloroxing him when she brought him in...hello shit loads of kid germs.) I turn off the light and leave Cheese and Squanto to their beauty sleep.

Fast forward 1 hour...I hear a faint yelp from the Cheese, "Mooooooooooooooommy." I go back and open the door and she is sitting upright in her bed. She looks me dead in the face with her big Lady Gaga saucer eyes and says "Can you turn Squanto's head? I get nervous when he looks at me like that."

Squanto, can you please look away. I get nervous too when you watch every breath I take.