Trains and Paint

Sometimes it amazes me that I conceived and gave birth to a kid that is not crafty. He loves Mommy School except when he is asked to pick up a pencil or crayon or marker and draw on paper. He always asks me to do that part for him.

The other day I thought that if I unrolled a huge piece of paper on our dining room floor and declared that we would draw (drum roll please) TRAINS that he would love it! We could crawl around, use our whole bodies and draw his favorite thing ever.

But. As Andrew is, and will always be, Andrew, that did not happen. I drew trains. Andrew got out his toy trains and had them run up and down the tracks as I drew.

Why is this so important? I mean, honestly, not everyone likes to draw. Not everyone has to constantly make things. People can live very fulfilling lives never even owning their own cake pans. Why push it?

Because, my friends, I am in constant search of things that Andrew and I can do together. When we play trains, my eyes glaze over. When we draw or paint, Andrew's eyes glaze over. I want to find things that we both can do bright eyed. Or, maybe, just maybe, wide-eyed.

So this morning I thought I would give it another shot. I thought we could skip Mommy School and make a Christmas decoration instead. Perhaps a wreath for our door. I was recently inspired by this wreath from Paper Source and thought we might be able to do our own variation. So I made a stamp out of cardboard in the shape of a diamond and I whipped up some burgundy paint. Maybe this will work.



So I stamped the first few diamonds. See Andrew? This is so much fun! He showed some interest. And decided that he could take over. But with a twist. The diamond stamp became a boat. The paper became water. And instead of stamping, sailing! He smeared paint around on the paper for dozens of minutes. Which for Andrew, is a crafting record.



It was not at all what I envisioned. It was so much better. To him, we were playing boats. To me, we were painting. A delightful compromise, I'd say. I plan on taking what I've learned today and running with it.

I see brown paint and toy cars in our future.
Stay tuned.