I've given up housekeeping and we have constant art time at the kitchen table. Mostly with crayons, but even some paint. Miles gets markers during Audrey's nap, I'm not ready to trust her with those yet. Miles LOVES to color. The dollar store coloring book is my new best friend; they have a surprising selection of popular character books. He's got this great psychedelic style of coloring where he takes a color and colors a block of the picture, somewhat staying within a shape or figure, then picks another random color and repeats until he fills the page. I'll have to post a photo of some soon. Audrey likes to flip the pages of the coloring book and scribble a little on each page. Then she'll say, "Mama, draw hand!" and we'll trace her hand then my hand all over a page. But what she usually does during coloring time is peel the crayons. We have a box full of naked crayons.
They aren't the only crafty ones around here. I've tried a couple of sewing projects too. I made Miles jammie pants because, well, there's not much you can make for a 4 and a half year old to wear. Maybe some funky jams this summer! Ha ha.
And I made Audrey this pillowcase style Caroline dress. She was excited about the concept of the dress, but then..... ? She does have some molars coming in, so maybe another day this will work.
Now for the litany of random thoughts about what the kids are into lately. First Audrey:
.: she can almost dress herself. If I try to help I get a "No, mama, NO!" She insists on pulling her pants on, she can sort of get a shirt over her head and I have seen her put on socks by herself. Miss Independent, I tell ya.
.: she's a sweet hug & kisser. She goes around to everyone in the morning giving out a hug and a kiss and asking "have a good nap?" which means "did you sleep well?"
.: and a big one... she's napping on a big girl bed! We pulled the trundle from Miles's bed into her room and left it lowered on the floor. The novelty is wearing off so she is getting better at staying in and falling to sleep. We won't try an overnight in it for a while though. But BeeBe & I are planning her big girl room! I can't believe the days of cribs are so soon behind us.
and now Miles
.: when he's not coloring, he's playing Batman & pirates (yes, together) and building cool pirate ships, forts and loft beds out of jumbo legos.
.: he is set on having a loft bed, preferably now, but we discussed maybe when he's 6. He loves this one because he wants to have his chair, books and bookcase under the bed like a cave.
.: he still loves his books. I introduced him to McKay Used Books and now he wants to go everyday. I'm trying to convince him to weed out some books from his shelves so he can trade. He looks for Berenstain Bears, Clifford and now we have "discovered" The Littles
(one of my childhood faves.) He's dying to start Harry Potter, but I think we need to build up the attention span before getting into that one. and one for me
.: I was accepted to the Librarian program at UT! I plan on starting in the fall. Now I'm knee deep in applications for various scholarships and fellowships, so fingers crossed there!
now out to enjoy some sunshine!
