Show-and-Tell Surprise

It's Friday morning, 20 minutes to show time. Show-and-tell time, that is. Talie is always eager to share. But her Montessori school insists on all-natural goods, and now that we've run the gamut with rocks and sea shells, finding the right object has become a wild goose chase.

"How about Angelina, mom, can I bring my Angelina mouse in for show and tell? She's natural!"

I try to explain the difference between a wild mouse and a commercial mouse character. This only frustrates Talie more. We barely make it to school without tears, and empty-handed at that.

Later, I come across our wooden leaf and flower press, hidden under a pile of construction paper. A-ha! The next morning Talie and I start plucking: a few purple pansies, a white crocus, a sunny daffodil.

I show Talie how to unscrew the wing nut at each corner of the press, and we leaf through the layers for clean blotter paper to sandwich each flower. Near the bottom, we find a surprise — a couple of flowers that must have been trapped for two years.

I have to look the name up: coreopsis. Talie loves this and repeats it over and over. Since she's so hooked on it, I suggest we make a chart of the flowers and label each one when they're all flat and dry.

Five days is an eternity when you're 4, but Talie patiently marks them in pink crayon on the calendar and crosses them off one by one. When Wednesday comes at last, we open the press. She's amazed at the transformation. She proudly glues the dried flowers in a row on pink cardstock, and then copies the name under each one in adorably shaky preschool penmanship.

When I see the grin on her face, I don't know who's more excited for Friday's show and tell, Talie or me.