While I was honing my senses, Savannah was honing her artistic talents. She was very expressive and animated much like the cartoons she watched every day. She began to draw her own versions. Even though children naturally love cartoons, I think Savannah found a safe place to hide in them. She had always been "in her own little world" to a certain degree but it was almost like she took on the life of the characters in the cartoons because she felt safe there. I noticed this as early as age two when we were still living in Chatom. Every time Nan came to visit, Savannah stood firmly in front of her, looked up at her, pointed and gave a matter of fact, lecture-like speech. She wasn't angry. It was the same speech every time - no variation. We were quite entertained. It became a guessing game to figure out what she was reciting. It took months.
One night Savannah and her dad were watching Pinocchio when he jumped up and excitedly called me to the living room. He said, "I finally found it!!":
Jiminy Cricket's Speech (@ the 1:00 mark)
"Now, you see? The world is full of temptations. Temptations? Temptations..."
"Now, you see? The world is full of temptations. Temptations? Temptations..."
I couldn't wait to tell Nan! Why Nan was "chosen" as the recipient of her lecture on becoming a real boy and temptations, I don't know, but it sure has made a wonderful memory. In hindsight, I see it as the beginning of Savannah's obsession with cartoons. She lived in an animated world back then and still does to a degree.
Savannah began to draw her own characters and add them to her version of an already written story. When the "Savannah" character came to life on paper, there was no stopping her. She drew herself further into her own little world and she was perfectly content.
