I am an actress. Well, I used to be. Back in 'the day' I was involved in many local theatre productions. And even though I dreamed big, my plans for stardom never really took off. However, my theatre training comes in handy as the mom of a busy and imaginative five year old. Gilly can see one episode of a cartoon or she may watch a movie once and she has it memorized. She also has an uncanny knack for accents. So much so that during her first meeting with Miss Leslie the Speech Therapist, Leslie noted that one of Gillian's parents must be British because Gillian occasionally spoke in an English accent. Nope, she was just being Kipper the Dog from PBS kids(borrowed from BBC). Miss Leslie just didn't catch the switch because Gilly usually goes from being right here in the moment to suddenly submerging herself in the memory of one of her shows. And then she starts acting it out with or without you.
Gillian and I play SpongeBob and Patrick about 30 times a day. We also play Angelina and Alice. We play Sid the Science Kid. Sometimes we improvise, but our 'shows' are always about characters she knows, not ones that are made up.
Try to talk to Gillian. I dare you. You may get a conversation of three sentences that make sense and are on topic. After that, she moves on to Spongebob dialogue or whichever character is in her head at that moment. Brian and I try to ask her about her day at school and we usually get very little reponse. But Gilly will approach complete strangers and without even saying hello she will begin telling that person in detail about her day.
So I decided to 'interview' Gillian as someone else. Someone like the guy from 'Inside the Actors Studio.' "Gillian?" I asked her in a calm, sweet voice. "What did you ..." I cocked my head sharply to the side "DO....at...school...today?" Sensing a game, my daughter hopped up on the couch to face me.
"What's yer name?" She asked with a smile. In the same ethereal voice as before, I responded. "My name is Esmerelda. " I cocked my head sharply to the side again. "Now...Gillian...what did you...DO... at SCHOOL...today?" Esmerelda uses a lot of hand gestures and her facial expressions are what I perceive to be serene. Gillian about DIED laughing. She proceeded to tell me everything she did that day. WITHOUT mentioning SBSP or any other animated persona. Esmerelda was around for a week or so then forgotten about.
Last night while we were out for dinner, Gillian mentioned her again. She wanted me to wear Chili's table menu of cocktails as a hat for Esmerelda. I immediately channeled Esmerelda's calm demeanor and asked Gillian about her day, cocking my head and using way too many fluid hand gestures. Gillian LOST IT! She laughed harder than I had seen her laugh in a long time. I broke character and laughed with her. But I did find out every last detail of her day at school and her afternoon at her Mammy's (grandma) house. I decided then and there that Esmerelda was here to stay. Brian just chuckled and shook his head. I am sure it is a daily occurence for him to question his own decision to spend his life with two of the craziest girls on the planet.
Well, the two craziest girls PLUS all of our 'alternate personalities'!!
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