My Niece (3)

I hung a Chinese painting on our family room wall. The sophisticated brush, the color, the fluffy chicks following the proud hen were the work by my niece when she was 9 years old. This painting won second prize in Shanghai Children’s Painting competition and was published.

 

I often looked at her wondering what this child couldn’t accomplish. Everything seemed so easy and effortless to her. At age 4, she could put hundreds of pieces of puzzles together designed for older children. When she was still in kindergarten, she could fold all sorts of paper projects following an Origami book. A friend of mine folded a bra using a handkerchief. My niece found it very interesting and asked her to do it again. My niece watched and learned. We found it very funny, so we would call: “ Mei Mei, show us a bra.” She would take out a handkerchief and eagerly demonstrate for us. It looked so real!

 

In kindergarten, a teacher will read a story to children and ask the children to repeat the story to their parents and parents have to write down and hand in the work. On that day, other parents will come to my home, my niece will stand before them reciting the story and they write it down. My niece could often remember the story word by word.