That which we call a Rose

Natalie Rose Clark, 7

Recently, Natalie was assigned to write an essay for her second grade class. The topic: how her name came to be "Natalie Rose."

The degree of difficulty connected with the assignment was sky high, largely because not even her parents knew how Natalie received her name. It just kind of happened. Still, she interviewed her mom and dad dutifully. When the answers were unacceptable, such as "it just sounded good," she dug a little deeper, or as you'll see by the excerpts below, she turned to her imagination to fill in the blanks.

• "This is my very own story of how Natalie became my name." (Setting the stage, she's off to a good start.)

• "Suddenly, 'Natalie' popped up in their heads like daises popping up on a spring morning." (Did this actually happen? Let us give our young author the benefit of the doubt.)

• "My middle name Rose, means flower, as simple as that, flower! I like that because I like to keep things simple and not complicated." (Insightful commentary for such a little girl.)

• "To me Natalie means author and poet because that is what I am. Natalie is the only name that can describe me perfectly." (Sigh.)

P.S. Almost two years have passed since our last entry in the Clarks of New Jersey blog. After wasting countless hours on other social media, the editors have decided to resurrect the tradition and speak more intimately to our most important readers.

Also, Happy Anniversary Mimi and Poppy!

Natalie's Haircut

Caption: Kara, left, and the new-look Natalie.

Little Natalie's hair was a topic of debate during her recent weekend with Mimi and Poppy. Mimi took the view that it was in need of gardening and cultivation. Natalie opposed, forcefully, suggesting that the natural look was worthy of respect and development, all the way to her waist.

(Natalie wanted to send a letter to Mimi to thank her for her generosity, but she didn't know the "Zip lock.")

The hair argument ran to a successful conclusion during a recent playdate with Natalie's lifelong friend Kara. The event brought our little Natalie into the home of Kara's grandmother, a respected professional hair dresser who operates from her basement. Natalie sat in the big chair, and the operation commence.

On her new hair style, Natalie said: "I like it because I like it."

Don't you miss you're long hair?

"Yes. I mean no. It was annoying because it kept getting my neck sweaty, every day. Even inside."

A weekend in Milford, Pa.

caption: Theodore learns to train a dragon.

The Clarks of New Jersey enjoyed a wonderful weekend in the Poconos with Grandma and Grandpa -- a.k.a., Mimi and Poppy.

Among the highlights were a flashlight-aided late night (7:15 p.m.) romp around the arbors and terrain of the Moon Valley Falls Estate -- common pleasures to walk abroad and recreate! At night time, Theo comfortably nestled into his bed in the basement with one of his new books purchased at Costco. It's about dragons, or something.

Natalie enjoyed reading, painting and watching television -- Mimi has so many channels! Her comment: "I haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up: an artist or an author."

Mimi and Poppy were generous hosts, and the men enjoyed watching a young "Canelo" Alvarez dismantle his senior welterweight opponent on HBO.

Christmas at the Clarks

caption: You two are like a couple of kids at Christmas. Literally.

A few observations while they are still fresh.

• Christmas is a beloved holiday for all age groups, but none takes it more seriously or joyously than the 5-8 year old set. This means the 2010 Clark Family Christmas is one for the books -- with family reunion in Skillman, N.J., still to come!

• Children ages 5 to 8 can't wait until Dec. 25th. It is best to let them open presents a little bit at a time, a discovery made by K. Warner Clark in the mid 1970s. Just as geothermal tremors help prevent massive earthquakes, so do the release of gifts prevent melt downs on Christmas day. It's 10:16 a.m. -- zero melt downs.

• Theodore was up at 6:50 a.m., opening his Beyblades presents. Did you get anything really cool, Theo? "Yeah, everything," he said. That made Daddy's day.

• Natalie was in the habit of wrapping little objects around the house. On Christmas morning, she made great sport of distributing them to their rightful owners. Daddy opened a miniature Empire State Building, that he bought in 1997, and also an Tagalog-English dictionary.

• Let us not forget the reason for the season! The children watched -- as a special Christmas Eve treat -- the Simpson's Christmas last night at 7 p.m. on Fox. I close with a quote from Bart: "Christmas is the time of year when people of all religions come together and worship Jesus Christ."

• Daddy and Mommy didn't even exchange gifts. What more could we want, really? "Best Christmas ever?" Daddy asked Mommy in the living room with wrapping paper strewn about. Her answer: "Best Christmas ever."

Keeping score at home

On a Saturday morning in the newly designed and furnished back room -- we call it "The Office" -- Natalie her mother and father are watching tenth-ranked Kentucky play North Carolina on the new flat screen Sony. Daddy is in heaven. What can be better than this? His favorite girls are watching a great game come down to the wire, and the picture is so clear that you can look into the bleachers and see who has their wallets in their front pockets.

Daddy notices little 5-year-old Natalie is writing in her notebook. Across the top in big letters, she wrote: "Basketball." Beneath that, she is tracking the score of the game! "65-63, 2 points. 65-65, tied. 65-67, 2 points."

Her stat sheet continues along those lines until Kentucky misses a desperation shot at the buzzer. "73-75, 2 points," she concludes, with a picture of a big basketball at the bottom. (The left margin appeared to be an aborted column intended to track 1-point leads. )

Earlier in the week, a language arts specialist from Metuchen Public Schools reported that Natalie is reading at a sixth grade level. We were proud of our little girl. But her statistical analysis of the UNC UK game took that pride to a new level.

Natalie goes to school

Daddy loves walking little Natalie to school, because she is well-rested, well-fed and brimming with lessons learned. Here is what she told me on our last walk:

"The United States of America is a boiling pot!"

Or is it a melting pot?

"Oh, right. It's a melting pot."

At the entrance to the school, we pause, we hug and she runs in with the other little children of Metuchen, melting away together into a cute little class.

Recently, we left school while another little girl was holding hands with her mother. They engaged us in conversation, but Natalie wasn't interested in chit-chat pleasantries. She stared at the ground, like our shy little girl. I found out the little girl's name is Summer, and she's in Natalie's class. Apparently, Natalie had written Summer a note, which was well received.

I looked at Natalie's face for confirmation. Head down. No expression.

But as soon as little Summer and her guardian disappeared around the corner of the school, Natalie turned excited and blurted: "Daddy, can we have Summer over to our house?!" Then her little mind scanned ahead and entered detail-oriented-planning mode: "We'll ask Mommy how long she can stay."

Later, Natalie writes me a note. "Dear Daddy, You are very nice to me. So draw me a picture any time. Or if you like, I can draw you a picture."

There is a picture at the bottom of her note. Three figures labeled "You," "me" and "Summer."

Natalie's thirst for knowledge

caption: Natalie and friend in downtown Philadelphia.

When the Metuchen library called Mommy and explained that Theo and Natalie won prizes in the raffle drawing, the kids were thrilled. Theodore won a meal at Macaroni Grill, and Natalie won a choice of children's reference books.

She picked "First Encyclopedia" and she has been researching ever since.

By research, I mean she reads a passage and copies it into her notebook. For instance: "Rules of the Rain Forest: 1.) Leave the jungle exatly (sic) the way you found it! Don't take rocks" etc.

Later, Mommy found the following written note:

Natalie's Rules

1. Use words nicely

2. Be nice to mom and Dad

3. Play with friends

4. Do not step on sticks.

This last principle (no. 4) must have been considered questionable or controversial, because it was crossed out and erased partially.

Natalie's research includes astronomy and zoology.

When one of her little friends came to visit, Natalie shouted: "Would you like to see my research?!"

I didn't see how her friend responded, but her enthusiasm must have been very high, for who wouldn't jump at the chance to see little Natalie's research?