As I went through my day, with preschool pickups, coloring pages, and stocking decorations, my mind flitted to all sorts of random things…
Picking up Madi from preschool, my first contemplation was about my average photography abilities. I decided, on my way down the steps, that it is a good thing that I scrapbook. Then, my ordinary pictures can get some extra oomph from all the glitter and glitz that I layer onto the page. If I was a stellar photographer, I could just put them on a blank page and they would look brilliant. My pictures (not the subjects), on the other hand, need the extra help.
Later, as Madi and I colored pictures of Belle and Lumiere, I started to question why anyone would expect a kid to color inside the lines. I was coloring Belle’s lips a blush pink, with limited success, because of my “used” crayon. Unless they are right out of the box, with the crisp point still intact, crayons have limited capabilities for precision. Then, I looked over at Madi’s picture, which was way neater than mine…maybe it just takes practice.
I also started to ponder why I even do “rest time” for Madi and Parker, as I listened to furniture being dragged across the floor and an entire bin of dress up clothes being dumped out , turned over, and used as a drum. Then the timer buzzed and they came careening down the stairs…no time to finish my thought…
Today’s Advent calendar activity was decorating the $.99 felt stockings I picked up at Target with glitter, pom poms, and buttons.This adventure prompted me to wonder why I didn’t just buy Fiona a stocking and be done with it. Instead, I found myself first carefully explaining how they could use all the fun supplies to make patterns and shapes, only to watch them use glue dots to stick random items all over and add on giant blobs of glitter.
It reminded me that even though I have my own ideas about how things should go, it is much better to let the kids use their own creativity. I’m sure I will be reminded of this when we hang up these stockings every year…
Just an ordinary day…full of kid drama, sticky fingers, and lots of drool…and enlightenment to boot…
— Post From My iPhone
