Our Very Important Kid

This week, Maya was THE Very Important Kid. Of course, she always is in our house, but this week was her chance to shine at preschool.


The honor brings some lovely benefits. She assumes the much-coveted roles of Line Leader and Teacher's Assistant all week.

On Monday she got to bring in her VIK poster. She filled out the questions herself:

Favorite Color: Pink and Blue

Favorite Food: Macaroni and Cheese

Favorite Animal: Horse

She added a picture of herself, a picture of her family, and a picture of her Favorite Place (Como Zoo).

What will she be when she grows up? She wrote DOCTOR, but found a picture of a firefighter, because she couldn't decide.

What is her favorite thing to do? She wrote "Mom's Birthday" and drew a table with a cake on it. (We happened to have my birthday cake the day we did the poster... and she's been to a lot of birthday parties lately).

If she had one wish what would it be? Her original answer was "Pavin's Bed." Pavin is the class clown, who happens to have a bunk bed with a slide attached. She upgraded it though, wishing for a bed with a water slide.

On Wednesday she was encouraged to bring in a very special thing to share with the class. She chose a special book entitled Jayke and Josh and the Most Delicious Mango Ever. It is a book born out of the Cambodian Civil War and ferried to Maya by her Aunt, the international explorer. In the book, two monkeys fight over the most delicious mango until, inevitably, it rots. A spiritual leader requires them to plant the mango seed and tend the mango tree so that they might grow enough mangoes for both of them, as well as their families.

As they share the work of tending the mango tree, the monkey's forge a friendship based on their shared hope for the future. It's probably over the head of my almost-five-year-old, but it is rich with allegory and has been taught in Cambodia as a tool to heal the country from the wounds of its civil war.

When asked why she chose that book, she simply answered, "So I can tell the class about my Auntie coming to visit and how they grow a mango tree."

On her last day as the classroom's VIK, Maya was encouraged to bring in a CD to play while the class works on projects. Maya worked with Joe to build her VIK Playlist:

Juba by Wayne Potash ("Juba this and Juba that, Juba sees a yellow cat...")
Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root
I Like to Move It by will.i.am
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Robot Parade by They Might be Giants
I Like Yaks by Roger Day
The House at the Top of the Hill by They Might be Giants
Fibber Island by They Might be Giants
I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
Prince Ali & Friend Like Me from Aladin
I'm Yours by Jason Moraz
Human by The Killers
Beverly Hills by Weezer
The Cave by Mumford and Sons
Rainy Monday by Shiny Toy Guns

Surly that's more information than anyone needs, but this one really is just for me and my Very Important Kid.