I have one of those Darlene Conner children. You remember, don't you? The wonderful, lovely, moody, never smiles, snide teenager from Roseanne. Darlene was the epitome of goth before goth became a big part of American culture.

And my youngest child is so very much like her. I don't think the character necessarily reflects the attitude of my child's heart. She's just a serious sort, not the life-is-so-gwad-awful-I'm-going-to-emmulate-death-because-that-is-how-I-feel sort.

Some children are pastels- light, fluffy, happy-go-lucky, some children are black and white. No gray. Now, my youngest, she's more black with splashes of red. No pink. Absolutely no pink. Why? According to her, she strongly dislikes the color. What do I think the real reason is? Pink, to her, symbolizes what society thinks girls are supposed to be. Dainty, well-mannered, light on their feet, yadayadayada. Her refusal to accept pink as a part of her fashion sense is out right defiance to society's expectations.

This child of mine who hates pink, has a passion for ballet. Can you get anymore pink than ballet? It's a bit conflicting if you ask me.

Anyway, what I was getting at is this child, who rarely ever smiles, doesn't smile because she sad or depressed, she doesn't smile because her mind is constantly on another plane of thought. She's constantly consuming her surroundings, calculating and categorizing, and then filing away for a later date. This is a kid who began classifying animals before she was three. We had our first creation-evolution debate when she was five. Her knowledge of astonomy blows my mind and she seems to be a walking-talking Greek mythology dictionary.

With everything going on in her head, no wonder her brain can't funtion enough to cause those facial muscles to pull upward.

BUT, I got her! Not once, but twice in less than twenty-hours. The first, I made gluten free peanut butter cookies. After one week having to go withoug gluten, she was feeling the sweet-tooth bite hard. And while the rest of the family ate pizza, as is our normal Sunday football routine, she and I ate nasty gluten free mac n' cheese.

The second event occurred, the following day when the mail man arrived with a book. Yes, a book! If she wouldn't have been seatbelted into the car as we were driving down the highway when I had informed her of its arrival, I do believe she may have even jumped off the ground with a slight squeee.

Both events granted me a full-genuine smile, followed by a thank you.

What is the whole point of this blog? Why, it's simple. Characterization. Even though some things might seem contradictory, it's really simple. It all fits with the child. When I work on characterizations I try to remember not everything is black and white. Somethings are a little gray, and every now and then there might be splashes of red.

Renee