It's Here!

My book! It's here. I'm busy now.

Pete's Art

Okay. So for Pete, art is about the experience and the medium rather than the final product. That is why, I think, in her seascape, which is supposed to contain a boat, the boat is not immediately obvious. It really doesn't look much like the example her teacher gave, but Pete was very pleased with it. I think her teacher was bothered by its abstractness. Where is the horizon line? Why is everything practically the same color? Where exactly is the boat? The seascape was the first project she did in her art class earlier this year. I admit, while I really did love her seascape, it bothered me a little too, that hers wasn't as "good" as the other children's, you know, the ones where you could tell what was going on. But she enjoyed painting it.

The pieces that most impressed her teacher and me, were the turtle print and her self portrait, which were done during the second session, after she had been going to art class for several months. By this time, though, Pete, who has wanted to be an artist since she was two, decided that art really isn't what she wants to do when she grows up. It wasn't as fun as it had been. It was Work, not an Experience. Her art "improved" from a grown-up perspective, and while it still has some of what we call scribble-scrabble, it has lost some of its free-ness. I see now that that is just wrong. Scribble-scrabble is important!

So what if her finger painting is all one color because Pete spent her time mushing the paint around until it got all blended together instead of making a "picture"? So what if her monster pastel drawing is missing a face (a faceless monster sounds pretty scary to me!)? So what if the stems in her flower garden collage don't all have flowers or if she got bored and didn't want to finish her marker dream house drawing (she can color with markers any time)?

Poor Pete! What's the matter with me that I want her art to look just like everyone else's art?

Sure, I want her to work hard and focus and learn stuff, but whether or not she can define perspective, why should she have to use it? It's art, for Pete's sake (haha). ART! Not graphic design for a print ad that has to be immediately recognizable as whatever it is intended to be.

I'm going to come up with some creative, fun project that is full of different sensations and let Pete figure out what the finished product should be. Then I'm going to give her paints or pastels or glue and scissors and magazines and make a suggestion for what she should make and see what we get.

Maybe she won't be an artist when she grows up. Maybe she'll be a teacher or a chef or a movie star or an engineer or something, but I want her to love art again. I want it to be fun again. Screw art class! Let's get our scribble-scrabble on!

Hooray! A Visit!!

So. Yesterday, Meme called us from Virginia and said, "What are you doing tomorrow?" And I said, "Going grocery shopping," and she said, "Can we stop by and visit you?" and I said, "YES!!" and then today they showed up in front of our house and visited us and took us to lunch (thank you, The Grandpa) and Lulu did all her tricks and Pete played the piano with The Grandpa and now they're gone and we're sad and can't wait to see them again.

That's all.

Oh! Except then Pete's The Lion King CD came in the mail while we were at lunch.

Lulu Signs:

Lulu uses the ASL sign for "more" to tell us that she wants something. This morning she used it to tell us that she was ready for breakfast.

Okay. You Asked for It.

You're right, The Grandpa. I did help you make that "cake." But for the record, I want to remind everyone that you had been working on it before I came to help, and I believe that the damage was done before I even had a chance to read the recipe. Wrong size pans? Not my fault. Liqueur in everything? Not my fault. Cough syrup flavor? Not my fault. Whipped cream? Perfect. I did that.

My five year-old made this cake...

LL Says:

If you aks Lulu what Daddy says, she sighs. Tee hee. It's true too. He sighs all the time.

I Gotta Remember...

I need to remember that sometimes I should think before I answer. Just a few minutes ago, I was trying to do something for Pete when the phone started ringing and Lulu woke up from her nap and started crying right at the same time. That was too much. I made the mistake of answering the phone first. It was VW calling to remind us that we were supposed to come to their house today. Being overwhelmed, I said, "Oh! I forgot! Can you come here instead?" when what I should have said was, "Can I call you back in two minutes?" because that's what happened anyway. VW was really nice and agreed to come here even though it was easier for her for us to go there. Then, after I hung up and got Lulu up from her nap and really thought about it, I realized that it was easier for us too to go there. Then I had to call her back and change my answer. She was really nice about my flakiness, like she always is. I would have seemed less flaky if I had only recognized that there was too much going on at once for me to try to make a change in anything (I'd been thinking all morning that they were coming here today) and said, "Hang on a minute please." That happens a lot. I gotta remember to step back!

Chiaphant

In case you were wondering what happened to the chiaphant: It got moldy and we threw it in the rubbish (that's what Pete calls the trash even though Pete's mom and dad just say "trash").

Pete Says:

One time, Pete was talking about the rolls with the "bread nuts" on them. After a minute, Pete's mom and dad figured out that Pete meant sesame seeds.

Scratch That Idea!

Pete is bored today because I didn't have anything scheduled except swimming lessons and I'm trying to get the laundry folded so I haven't been playing with her (although I did count to 200 while she counted to 700 when Lulu took her morning nap). I thought that maybe they would both like to go for a walk since it's not too hot and the sun is out and everything, but by the time they had both erupted in brokenhearted wails about something stupid for the third time, I decided maybe taking a walk wasn't a good idea so they're both in bed now, napping. Well Pete is napping; Lulu is Objecting Loudly, but that won't last long, I bet. Now maybe I can get the laundry put away!