You've been X-ed!

Adaline loves art. She can't pass by a marker or a pen or even a piece of paper without stopping to draw. I think she would prefer to draw and paint most of her waking hours (if she didn't have a brother who would prefer to play with her all of his waking hours). She processes the world through drawing. Often when we are out, she observes something and immediately asks me if I have something to draw with. She enjoys a sight briefly and then needs to get it on paper.(Granted, many drawings tend to end up as a princess or girl...as if everything she sees in the world becomes a muse for another pretty lady. Her subject matter is fairly narrow at this point.)

A recent development is Adaline using art to express her emotions...namely anger. When she gets angry at you for any number of reasons, she stomps away and huffs. Soon she returns with a piece of paper. She angrily hands it over to you and leaves with more stomping and huffing. The picture reveals everything: a drawing of the person in question with a large "X" over them. You mess with Adaline: you get X-ed.

If you're lucky, she "hearts" and "flowers" you after a brief separation. It's her artistic interpretation of forgiveness, I guess.

It was very fun to be with my dad the artist because he set the kids up in his studio to paint with stuff I'll never have in our apartment (pictures below). At one point the kids were on top of a huge drawing they were working on together. Some sort of argument took place, followed by mutual life-size X-ing out of each other, and resolved in hearts and flowers. They rushed to tell me the good news (that they forgave each other without my intervention). I wish all conflict resolution was that easy! Processing anger through art is much more calm than the hair-pulling and hitting that usually occur around here. Maybe I should market the "X" technique...for adults as well as children?

Both kids want to be an artist when they grow up after their experience with "Pa." (Although, they currently want to be a Rockette after going to a show--see pics on Jamison's blog.)