newfangled thinker toys . I could tell by the way she said it that newfangled isn’t really part of their name, but I don’t understand what it means.
I know what new means, but what’s a fangled ?
Max loves these toys. Max’s mom would say that Max is engaged , which means that he has stopped paying attention to everything around him. Max gets engaged a lot, which is good because it means that he is happy, but it also means that he forgets everything else. When Max is engaged, it is like only one thing exists. Ever since he sat down on the carpet in front of the coffee table and started playing with these toys, I don’t think he’s looked up once.
Dr Hogan is smart enough to let Max play. Every now and then she asks a question, and so far all of her questions have only needed yes-or-no and one-word answers, so Max has been answering most of them.
That’s smart, too. If Dr Hogan had tried to get Max to just talk, without the thinker toys and the quiet time, he would have probably clammed up , which is what Mrs Hume says about Max when he won’t talk to her. But Max is slowly getting used to Dr Hogan and eventually he might be able to talk to her if she waits long enough. Especially if she doesn’t make him feel like she’s staring at him and recording everything that he says. Most of the time adults start out slow with Max but eventually they lose their patience and mess things up.
Dr Hogan is pretty. She’s younger than Max’s mom, I think, and she isn’t dressed too fancy. She is wearing a skirt and a T-shirt and sneakers, like she’s going for a walk in the park. This is smart, too, because she looks like just another girl. Not a real doctor.
Max is afraid of doctors.
Best of all, she hasn’t asked one single question about me. Not one. I was worried that she would be asking Max about me for the whole time, but instead, it seems like she’s more interested in Max’s favorite food (macaroni) and his favorite flavor of ice cream (vanilla) than his imaginary friend.
‘Do you like school?’ Dr Hogan asks.
Dr Hogan told Max that he could call her Ellen, but that is too weird for me. Max hasn’t had to say her name yet, so I don’t know what he has decided to do, but I bet he will call her Dr Hogan, too. If he can remember her name. If he was listening when she told him.
‘Kind of,’ Max says.
His tongue is sticking out of the corner of his mouth and he is squinting, staring at two pieces of thinker toys, trying to figure out how they go together.
‘What’s your favorite part of school?’
Max doesn’t say anything for ten seconds, and then he says, ‘Lunch.’
‘Oh,’ Dr Hogan says. ‘Do you know why lunch is your favorite part of school?’
See how smart she is? She doesn’t ask Max why lunch is his favorite until she knows that he knows. If Max can’t explain why lunch is his favorite part of school, then he can just say no, and he doesn’t have to feel dumb for not knowing the answer. If Dr Hogan asks a question that makes Max feel dumb, she might never get him to talk.
‘No,’ Max says, and Dr Hogan doesn’t seem surprised one bit.
I’m not surprised either. But I think I know why Max likes lunch best. I think it is because it’s the part of the school day when he is left alone. No one bothers him, and no one tells him what to do. He sits at the end of the lunch table, all alone, reading his book and eating the same thing every day: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a granola bar, and an apple juice. The rest of the school day is unpredictable. You never know what might happen. Things are always changing, and teachers and kids are always surprising Max. But lunch is always the same.
This is only a guess. I don’t know why Max likes lunch the best, because I don’t think Max knows. Sometimes you can feel something but not know why you feel that way. Like the way I feel about Mrs Patterson. I knew I did not like her as soon as I met her, but I can’t explain why. I
I know what new means, but what’s a fangled ?
Max loves these toys. Max’s mom would say that Max is engaged , which means that he has stopped paying attention to everything around him. Max gets engaged a lot, which is good because it means that he is happy, but it also means that he forgets everything else. When Max is engaged, it is like only one thing exists. Ever since he sat down on the carpet in front of the coffee table and started playing with these toys, I don’t think he’s looked up once.
Dr Hogan is smart enough to let Max play. Every now and then she asks a question, and so far all of her questions have only needed yes-or-no and one-word answers, so Max has been answering most of them.
That’s smart, too. If Dr Hogan had tried to get Max to just talk, without the thinker toys and the quiet time, he would have probably clammed up , which is what Mrs Hume says about Max when he won’t talk to her. But Max is slowly getting used to Dr Hogan and eventually he might be able to talk to her if she waits long enough. Especially if she doesn’t make him feel like she’s staring at him and recording everything that he says. Most of the time adults start out slow with Max but eventually they lose their patience and mess things up.
Dr Hogan is pretty. She’s younger than Max’s mom, I think, and she isn’t dressed too fancy. She is wearing a skirt and a T-shirt and sneakers, like she’s going for a walk in the park. This is smart, too, because she looks like just another girl. Not a real doctor.
Max is afraid of doctors.
Best of all, she hasn’t asked one single question about me. Not one. I was worried that she would be asking Max about me for the whole time, but instead, it seems like she’s more interested in Max’s favorite food (macaroni) and his favorite flavor of ice cream (vanilla) than his imaginary friend.
‘Do you like school?’ Dr Hogan asks.
Dr Hogan told Max that he could call her Ellen, but that is too weird for me. Max hasn’t had to say her name yet, so I don’t know what he has decided to do, but I bet he will call her Dr Hogan, too. If he can remember her name. If he was listening when she told him.
‘Kind of,’ Max says.
His tongue is sticking out of the corner of his mouth and he is squinting, staring at two pieces of thinker toys, trying to figure out how they go together.
‘What’s your favorite part of school?’
Max doesn’t say anything for ten seconds, and then he says, ‘Lunch.’
‘Oh,’ Dr Hogan says. ‘Do you know why lunch is your favorite part of school?’
See how smart she is? She doesn’t ask Max why lunch is his favorite until she knows that he knows. If Max can’t explain why lunch is his favorite part of school, then he can just say no, and he doesn’t have to feel dumb for not knowing the answer. If Dr Hogan asks a question that makes Max feel dumb, she might never get him to talk.
‘No,’ Max says, and Dr Hogan doesn’t seem surprised one bit.
I’m not surprised either. But I think I know why Max likes lunch best. I think it is because it’s the part of the school day when he is left alone. No one bothers him, and no one tells him what to do. He sits at the end of the lunch table, all alone, reading his book and eating the same thing every day: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a granola bar, and an apple juice. The rest of the school day is unpredictable. You never know what might happen. Things are always changing, and teachers and kids are always surprising Max. But lunch is always the same.
This is only a guess. I don’t know why Max likes lunch the best, because I don’t think Max knows. Sometimes you can feel something but not know why you feel that way. Like the way I feel about Mrs Patterson. I knew I did not like her as soon as I met her, but I can’t explain why. I
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