About a month ago, Lily lost it in a panic of tears and dread. She’d managed to pull the string on the music box, on the bottom of her rocking chair (previously mine, previously my mother’s). She panicked that she’d ruined it entirely, and came running to me for help.
Russ managed to sooth her while I caught the bit of string left before it disappeared into the mechanics of the sound box. And as it turned out, the mechanism was designed intelligently enough that barring any entanglement issues, even if I hadn’t caught the string in time, it would have been ok. BUT Lily was devastated. She knows it’s an important heirloom.
The sting on the box is probably 70 years old… I need to obtain some nylon and a curved needle and restring the thing, but I haven’t focused on it. In fact, I rather completely forgot, but Lily hasn’t, it seems. In fact, so much so that she not only retained every bit of instruction I imparted during the initial disaster (that being to be aware of the three tacks it’s held on with, the two pieces of string, the ball, and the box/mechanism itself – keeping all the pieces from getting lost), but she has drawn an image that depicts what happened and what must be done to remedy the situation.
She brought out the music box today to show to some guys we have here working on the house. She also brought her drawing to show them how it broke and how it can be repaired. The drawing is brilliant in my mind. She drew it to scale, included all the parts, her scale is even proportionate. She drew the damaged string, and where it broke (she has each side of the string properly represented in length/ratio), and drew the solution. She indicated her drawing was so she would know what happened and what to do. In essence, she drew a snapshot so that she could remember how to return it to working condition.
Having created this drawing (which she did some time ago, she reports… I haven’t seen it before today) demonstrates so much development, it’s hard to articulate in any sort of brief summary. She’s using deduction, observation, perception, problem solving, engineering, awareness, compassion, reflection, math, mechanics, motor skills, coordination, and integrity.