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odyssey of the mind

trumpet, hat, drink ...
and so much more!

when i was in middle and high school, i had the privilege to take part in a really cool program encouraging creative thought and innovation in kids. it's called odyssey of the mind, and it really shaped a lot of the way my brain works and my problem-solving skills.

the competitions for odyssey of the mind included a long-term project - anything from technical problems like building a contraption(s) to propel tennis balls across a gymnasium with precision and speed to dramatic problems like writing and performing a seven minute skit portraying a folk tale and including famous quotes in the dialogue - and a short-term project, called the spontaneous problem.

for spontaneous problems, they might give you seven minutes to construct a bridge of tape and toothpicks to support the weight of as many nails as possible. or build a tower of safety pins and chopsticks that goes as high as possible but resists the torque of twisted rubber bands. but my personal favorites were the ones where they gave you one simple object, and you passed it around the group for seven minutes offering as many creative uses for that object as you possibly could.

this morning, john did his own little spontaneous problem in our kitchen while i packed my lunch. at first i hardly noticed he was there, just saw him dressed only in his diaper, playing with his little blue cup with a number three on the side. but then i listened to what he was doing:

"shoe!" and he put it on his foot.

"hat!" and he put it on his head.

"doot doot doot dooooo!" and he played it like a trumpet.

"juice!" and he took a "sip" out of it.

"football!" as he threw it up in the air.

"goldfish?" as he looked inside for a snack and pretended to put it in his mouth. (and he gets bonus points for his pronunciation of goldfish, which sounds like "dogfish" and makes me smile every time.)

proud mama of a future om'er right here.

***

cute spring outfit courtesy of aunty drew.
john's attitude was not so spring-y,
but it soon improved!
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