Diorama Drama

The Boy got an assignment last week in his new class. All the kids were to work on a "family project", a diorama of their rooms. We had a week to complete it, and he would present it to his class when it was due. So I dug out a shoe box and we found a doll house bed and rocking chair to put inside.

He was SO excited about it. The Boy chose a Lego Santa to be him and a tiny baby to be his brother. He cut out a paper tent and I helped him fold it before he added Avengers stickers. He decided that his room needed carpet, so he set about painting the floor, then the walls of the box. I figured we were finished, but he wanted to make a bookshelf with books, and wanted to illustrate the book covers. He also found a Bullseye figurine to represent his rocking horse. I did put my foot down when he wanted to add a roof. 

Rocking chair, bookshelf, and tent represented in diorama

Then he practiced talking about it. He told me about it, he told The Husband about it, he told my mom about it. And he told his brother that he most definitely could NOT touch it or bother it. I was excited to see him so excited about it, and to work so hard. 

Then the night before it was due, I re-read the paper to make sure we had everything it needed. Except this time DIORAMA was spelled DIAGRAM. Make a diagram of the room. Diagram. Not diorama. Ohhhh. I was wondering how they were planning to hang all those dioramas in the hall.

So you asked for a simple drawing and we created a 3D model complete with illustrated book covers? This was just like my fourth grade science project, when my classmates had done simple projects like posters about which paper towels were strongest, and not knowing the appropriate expectations, I had soaked real teeth (donated from my dentist's office before HIPPA) in coke and lemon juice for two weeks and charted the results. Sometimes less is more. And doesn't stink as bad.

I wanted to add a plaque to display with it in the hall that said "we aren't over compensating for anything, his mom is just bad at reading directions."

By this point he was so proud that I couldn't not let him send it. But I was also embarrassed. I didn't want it to look like we went ALL OUT on his first project and were trying to show everybody up. I'm not above stealing the spotlight (Example: I rocked an a capella solo of Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now for my kindergarten talent show). But I don't want to be the preschool pageant parent, pushing my kid to be competitive with his peers. Plus, I had already cried The Big Tears at orientation, and I was still trying to play that off and not seem high maintenance. And then I'm like, I see your diagram project and raise you a DIORAMA.  Thank God I didn't let him add that roof. 

I casually mentioned to The Boy that some of his friends might choose to do their projects differently, and that it was up to the families how to do them. I wrote a quick note to the teacher explaining what had happened and sent him on with his project. When I saw him that night I asked how it went, and he said "all my fwiends wiked it! And I got to sit in the teacher's chair to talk about it!" I asked him what his friends did for their projects, and he said with a hint of confusion "they all did paper?" Oh, you mean followed the directions? Yeah, buddy, sorry you and I are the only ones over here with a shoe box. I think we're alone now. There doesn't seem to be any one arou-hound....