Zoe (Part Five)

Zoe (Part Five)

Part Five: A breakthrough

A breakthrough came one Thursday morning as I worked with Zoe. I had been reading some nursery rhymes with him and he seemed to be enjoying them immensely. As he finished 'reading' the book, I went over to 'his' little table and put a blank piece of paper and a set of water color paints on a place mat. The placemat had a photograph of a northern Ontario waterfall.

Zoe looked so cute, gowned in an old shirt that was pinned at the back. He was wearing a baseball hat backwards and looked the part of an artist. I really was not paying a lot of attention to him or what he was doing. I was busy preparing his next project, as I knew from my nursing experience in pediatrics that if you keep children busy, then they generally don't keep you busy, with a few exceptions of course.

Suddenly I heard Zoe say "Anna-wanna-condo-bondo".

I immediately turned and looked at him and said "What did you say?"

He burst out laughing when he saw the amazed expression on my face.

"Anna-wanna-condo-bondo," he said as a definite expression of something while he continued to paint. I started laughing too, as his laughter was so contagious.

I repeated it back to him. "Anna-wanna-condo-bondo." I had no idea of what he was talking about or trying to say.

Zoe continued to paint but with the most wonderful expression of sheer delight on his face. I wrote down the words that he had spoken, so that I would not forget what he said and decided that I would ask his mother later what that meant in her Oriental language.

Suddenly, I was stunned as I realized what he was doing.

The place mat in front of him had a picture of a river, a tree, a bridge and a waterfall. He had copied it exactly, but doing it from one side to the other, instead of doing it from top to bottom or bottom to top, the way children normally paint. It was a perfect replica. The colours were almost exact shades of the colours in the picture on the place mat.

I decided that this was one picture that I would keep and with his help, put it up on the refrigerator door with magnets. Generally, he took his work home with him and showed it to his mom and dad.

As I hung it on the refrigerator door, he just stood there with his hands on his hips, gazing at it, and then looking at the place mat. He was obviously quite satisfied with it, and quite pleased that I had placed it on the door of the refrigerator.

Zoe moved on to his next project and a little while later, his mother came over to pick him up. He was still wearing his painting clothes and his baseball cap. She smiled and said that maybe what he had said was the name of some city, in the place where her parents, lived in the Orient. She had no idea what the word or the expression meant.

By the next time Zoe came over, I had made four little terry towel dolls for him.

We sat on the couch together and we made up a story about Anna, Wanna, Condo and Bondo. Each of the dolls had its own name. Zoe was thrilled and left at the end of our morning with the four dolls. I never saw them again.

Shortly after that, the mother informed me that Zoe would be starting kindergarten and that she and her husband felt that Zoe was returning to normal in terms of expected behaviour.

He had stopped screaming and was no longer destructive. He had begun to talk in sentences, not in baby talk. He was eating and drinking in a way that a child his age should. There were very few regressions according to his father.

It had taken ten months for this to happen. I could see a noticeable change in him and I knew that my time with him had not been wasted. I was immensely relieved and my heart warmed, when I saw him playing football in the back yard with his father.

Then another strange turn of events took place.

Unexpectedly, Zoe's mother she asked me if I would spend time with the younger brother, on Thursdays every week. I cautioned her that it might upset Zoe, but I agreed to look after the baby one morning a week, so that she could have some time to herself. She wanted to take the time to learn to read and write English.

I wondered how Zoe would react to that.

Interestingly, he was quite pleased and seemed to be as proud as punch about going to school. The little brother was a joy to spend time with, as he was so content and peaceful. Looking after him was a totally different experience.

According to Zoe's parents, he continued talking and behaving normally. He did very well in school which did not surprise me in the least. It appeared that somehow, something had 'clicked' and he just returned to being a bright and happy, playful child.

After that, I would still see Zoe off and on, but not on a regularly scheduled basis. He would stop in and show me things that he had made at school, or a treasure that he had found or whatever.

Sometimes I would sit on the doorstep and chat with him for a while, when he got off the school bus. He would tell me about his day. The odd time, I would babysit him and his brother at the same time, or take them both to the park. It appeared that the family had resumed a normal family life.

Needless to say, the parents were very grateful and I received a beautiful Oriental gift set from them as a 'thank you', which I will always treasure.

I still have no idea what "Anna-wanna-condo-bondo" meant to Zoe. I will never forget that expression. I wonder if he will remember it when he grows up. Maybe then he can explain it to me.

Years later, looking back, I wonder if I had actually found a budding 'child poet' who had spoken to me in a child's 'nursery rhyme', as the lines actually do rhyme.

Anna,
Wanna;
Condo,
Bondo.

I may never know and I realize that I don't really need to know either. If it was a poem, it was 'Zoe's Poem', truly his poem, not mine. The joy and the significance of it was in terms of his life.