Clover asked me if I can help get her on television yesterday.
Me: What do you mean 'on tv'? (hoping she meant literally on the TV)
Her: (louder) I mean can you get me on TV?
Me: Like as an actress?
Her: (silence)
Me: Like on the show DragonflyTV?
Her: Yeah, that would be good.
I thought I had dodged a bullet when she accepted my answer that she had to be several years older, even though she seems to be preparing for this show all the time by coming up with weak hypotheses, testing them and then making an incomplete bar graph with a paper and crayons, basically drawing the bars in a way to make the results look interesting, but not actually tying the data into it. Maybe an internship in the Bush Administration would better suit her.
After a moment, she looked from the DVR selections and asked if "Sex and the City" was a kid's show. I quickly said no, but was too afraid to ask if she asked because she wanted to watch it or if that was the show she wanted to be on.
Later we went with some friends to see a production at the local children's theater, which reminded Clover of her quest. On the way home she asked if she could be in a show there too. Relying on my past success, I told her she needed to be older. My mistake was that I forgot she can read everything. As if she expected my answer, she pointed out that the show's program says that those as young as six can begin attending a camp there that concludes with a (small scale, I'm guessing/hoping) show and this means she can do it next summer when she is six! I mumbled some excused that concluded with "we'll see," but it was too late, as she was already dreaming.
Expect to see me with the other parents selling hot dogs to support the production for one summer until Clover realizes that acting requires a lot of tedious repetition, which is the reason she quit ballet. Maybe if she had watched ballet on TV, she would have stuck with it.
