Scarce out of diapers and past the toddling stage, a three- or four-year-old child may not be extremely articulate but it does say some surprising things. "I want some more teeth," for instance, may mean "I'd like some more corn."
Another strong suit of kids at that age is--causing trouble. A moment's inattention and the new magazine is in shreds, the porcelain horse on the coffee table is broken, or the flowers from the vase are strewn on the sofa . . . but the toughest of all is that day when your child, still clutching in its little hand a newly found crayon, pen, or marker, points proudly to a mass of scribbles on the wall and exclaims: "Mommy, it's McDonald's!"
Restrain those little hands? You've got to. But don't forget to give them a piece of paper, too--a piece of paper that contains the infinite. And with every scribble, there's a story--
My name is Ch'en Chien-wen. How old am I? Who knows? First I say three and a half, then I say four.
I like orange. My mommy (lower right) is at home calling my daddy on the phone. Daddy's at the office (upper left). The phone line's really, really long, but it's all messed up and tied in knots. Mommy can't get through, and she has to call the man from the phone company (brown) to come and fix it. He's got a lot of tools (green). Well, it turns out Daddy's phone is new and the line's not in yet. (Note gap between father's telephone and twisted cord.)
My name's Lin Ta-wei. I'm on the train to Kaohsiung to my grandmother's. I get on the train in Taipei (upper left). The train (blue) has lots of wheels. Those squares on the train? They're freight! The train goes through Taichung (lower left). People are waiting for the train there. Then there's Tainan (lower right) and then Kao-hsiung Train Station (upper right). It's a long ride.
You can see a lot of trees (green) out the window and a lot of roofs (also green) and cars (the one with "VW" on its wheels is his father's). I like to take the train to Grandma's. I like to be naughty on the train.
I like orange. My mommy (lower right) is at home calling my daddy on the phone. Daddy's at the office (upper left). The phone line's really, really long, but it's all messed up and tied in knots. Mommy can't get through, and she has to call the man from the phone company (brown) to come and fix it. He's got a lot of tools (green). Well, it turns out Daddy's phone is new and the line's not in yet. (Note gap between father's telephone and twisted cord.
My name's Lin Ta-wei. I'm on the train to Kaohsiung to my grandmother's. I get on the train in Taipei (upper left). The train (blue) has lots of wheels. Those squares on the train? They're freight! The train goes through Taichung (lower left). People are waiting for the train there. Then there's Tainan (lower right) and then Kao-hsiung Train Station (upper right). It's a long ride. You can see a lot of trees (green) out the window and a lot of roofs (also green) and cars (the one with "VW" on its wheels is his father's). I like to take the train to Grandma's. I like to be naughty on the train. (Wang Chia/photos by Arthur Jeng/tr. by Peter Eberly)
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