…walking hand in hand…sharing an ice cream…baking cookies…taking them to the park…showing them the ocean for the first time…getting our nails done together...building pillow forts…movie night with popcorn and lots of blankets…
Some of those visions have begun to come to fruition, and others will happen in due time. And others I can really hardly wait for, so I may just be rushing a bit.
Another picturesque moment in my mind is surely Craft Time. I can just see the kitchen table spread out with all manner of pom-poms, glitter, construction paper, glue, paint, and those itty bitty kid scissors. The three of us will be scrapbooking away together…or making homemade Christmas cards…or constructing a centerpiece for the table, sure to be worthy of a footnote in Martha Stewart’s magazine.
There will be kiddy music softly playing in the background, and we may sing along here and there while we toil. I’ll slip away to make us a smoothie. We’ll push back from the table, smoothie in hand and a plateful of homemade chocolate chip cookies on the side. We’ll admire our work.
I just know that one day, the scene will play out exactly like that. In the meantime, I like to look for little “projects” I can engage in with the girls.
Thanks to Beth, who double-dog promised that washable markers do actually wash out / off (even with two-year old quadruplets!), I invested in a set a couple of weeks ago. It’s taken me a little while to drum up the courage (because see, in my fantasy land, there are no messes).
Earlier this week, I drew a circle on a piece of cardstock and tried my best to direct the girls to turn it into a pumpkin with the careful application of some orange marker. I made a very precise break to hand the girls a green marker to draw the pumpkin stem. And then I breathed deeply, a stack of baby wipes in hand, while I prayed that Beth had not led me astray.
Sure enough, the girls cleaned up pretty easily. And later, in the quiet of naptime I carefully added the pumpkins’ facial features.
I don’t know how much the girls got out of this exercise. Come to think of it, they may have enjoyed it more had I served smoothies and cookies.
But I had a blast...and I really enjoyed the glimpse of things to come.
4 comments:
Their first artwork! So cute! I LOVE that my girls get to do crafts every day at school, so I don't feel the pressure to break out too many new crafts at home. Sometimes they even PAINT (and they don't come home with it smeared all over them...I have no idea how). When we do color or play with stickers at home, they know exactly how to do it. Now, if they would only learn to keep it on the paper, we would be in good shape.
You're a brave woman...even though they use all sorts of things at preschool, I am still hooked on ColorWonder! I'm so mean!!!!
I look forward to the same types of things. Our first coloring experience was a bit like that. The girls kept trying to taste the colors though. :) Then they would hover the crayon just above the paper and move it back and forth. It was pretty funny to watch. The colored a birthday card for Daddy last week, I think that was their favorite. They chanted "daaaaaaddy" the whole time they were coloring. :) I might have to follow your lead and let the girls try markers.
Nice work! It may not have gone exactly how you envisioned it, but it's certainly a beginning!
Tiny and Buba have a little friend whose mother is big into crafts. Last year just before Valentine's day, she invited us over to make little Valentine decorations. My guys would have been around 23 months, and were not at all attentive to the project at hand. The little friend, however, was clearly used to doing such things and gave her decoration a bit more thought and attention. A few months later, my two started their playgroup, where they do a craft every week- usually painting and sometimes glueing and stickering (you know, putting sticker all around the paper). They are always very proud to show me their work, which I try to display as much as possible, and I know they would enjoy doing more of this kind of thing at home. They'll be getting a double sided easel for Christmas from my aunt, and I'm planning to pick up some art supplies to put in their stockings so we can get going on the arts and crafts soon after the holiday season. I too am nervous about the mess, so everything will be washable, and they'll be getting long sleeved art smocks as well. Man, do I wish I was one of those people who can just throw caution to the wind. But that is just so not me. :o)
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