little girls' journals

for the past nine months the girls have (more or less) been keeping a journal and it has been awesome. long before i ever had children i planned how i would have "journal sundays" every sunday, i've even got it written down in a journal of my own somewhere.. we would come home from church and, after a healthy snack, we'd all sit down to reflect on our week and write in our journals. i would gently encourage the kids and we'd all smile.. that vision makes me laugh. the reality is much less serene but (mostly) much more fun. healthy sunday snacks have been replaced by desperate fistfuls of tortilla chips and doughnuts (it's true.. the deperate post-church hunger is satisfied by whatever chip sees first when he opens the cupboards), the journal writing is completely sporadic and sometimes totally enforced on reluctant little girls, but the records eve and ruth have of their own lives so far are pretty perfect in their sweetness, their craziness, and their awesome truthfulness.

eve. may 4, 2009. "no i don't like diurreah. i liked waching angelena ballrena"

ruth: april 21, 2009
mom: what did you want to say about your day?
ruth: i didn't want to say about my day
m: what is this picture?
r: jungle
m: what else?
r: i don't want to tell you.

eve: may 10, thursday. "i loved the little mermaid at times square."

ruth: may 10, 2009 "this is ariel and flounder. i goed to the little mermaid at the play. it was in Times Square. my favorite part was when ariel got the pink dress and when she got married. my daddy was named chip and i watched a play with dad. i wish i could see ariel again because i wish i could see the married part again."

to make "keeping a journal" something approachable i gave the girls a very simple formula to start with: draw or write about their favorite part of the day/week along with their least favorite. eve was totally in from the moment i introduced the idea and has stuck to the formula with few exceptions. ruth, on the other hand, heard the plan, made a bizarre face, rolled over and began complaining about not knowing any real princesses.. she has mostly stuck to her own formula of journal keeping, which at the beginning involved her drawing about whatever she wanted to while i pestered her to tell me about it. but now that she is starting to not only draw but write on her own (and realizing just how long it takes to make all those words) the formula is coming in handy, even for ruthie who likes to do everyhting her own way.

(two page spread) eve: june 3, 2009 "no i do l" [beginnings of "no i don't like"] june 4, 2009 "i poukt [puked] on charlies birthday. today i lovee ma-king the teve purojec [tv project]."

ruth: june 2, 2009

ruth: 10.9.09, "keira, tessa, eden, monet, malena, ruth, ms. jin. we're all starting a show on the stage."

eve: october 9, 2009. "i like gayb"

ruth: january 15, 2010. "planetarium. i did not like when it exploded i liked the gas of the sun."

there is so much i love about ruth's and eve's magical journals. i love that they don't think too much about what they record, they just do it. i love that they want me to look at everything they draw and write, because i know that won't last. and i love having this record of their drawing and writing progression. but most of all i love that it is their own marks that fill each page. it is all their own words, their own takes on their own lives, not my interpretation or perspective, but theirs. just as journals should be.

 

next up: the making of the journals.

weirdest teacher gift ever?

well, technically, these were for the class. a mrs. field and mrs. morales doll. i thought they'd be strange and entertaining for the classroom's dramatic play area. after all, what student doesn't want a chance to be in charge of the teacher for once? 

it seemed like the perfect idea in the wee hours of the morning while chip and i were working on them, but when school time came i was a bit nervous that the teachers would not only have no idea what to make of them, but would think they were a serious gift. a very weird and slightly disturbing serious gift. but, happily, mrs. field received them with a big laugh and the two teachers immediately began concocting plans for the many jokes and fun to be had with the crazy little dolls. 

the bubble jet set and rinse that i have stored for the last two years were finally put to use and totally worked. after a wash and a dry, the image was holding fast. eve and ruth have begun making demands for their own dolls, so naturally we will have a little family soon. perhaps even an extended family in doll form, a la angrychicken. and maybe we'll throw in some animals too, a la salvor. . . yes, we'll definitely need some animals. . . the bad luck continues around here. after a break of several months we decided to surprise the girls with a new fish for christmas. in the middle of stuffing stockings chip called my name, i looked over to see him holding the pitcher with our beautiful new goldfish. . . belly-up. at least the girls never saw it during the five hours it was alive. 

more to come on the christmas festivities and a few other last minute projects. . .  happy holidays!

0000001

"you are my favorite robot maker helper, dad. i super super 'cited you making robots with me, dad. you are my really favorite."

is there anything better than a three-year-old in a paper-bag-turned-robot-costume, talking in her best robot voice and walking her very stiffest robot walk with her dad first thing on a weekday morning? 

++

just before bed tonight, eve and ruth, clad in the newest robot costumes (cardboard boxes, we upgraded) ran at, smashed into and literally bounced off of each other over and over and over. robot war. everyone made it to bed unharmed, but now this song (which has been in my brain for well over a year now) is playing on a continuous loop. . . i think maybe i need to make a robot mix so we can have a robot dance party. with a couple more deliveries from UPS we'll have enough costumes for a little civilization. . . add some music, several little bodies and it will be total robotic chaos. could be great. 

the big green book

two facts: chip is really good at drawing and i am really not very good. 

over the years as i've lamented the fact that i cannot make a decent looking animal chip has told me that i should get Ed Emberley's Big Green Drawing Book. it helped him as a child, it could certainly help me. 

two weeks ago on a trip to the library the girls and i came home with the big green book. the Drawing Book of Faces followed a few days later. making a horse that actually resembles a horse (as opposed to a flinstones-esque dinosaur) has never been easier. for myself or eve, who has been able to follow the simple step-by-step instructions all on her own. 

   

in addition to the wonderfully clear and simple instructions, mr. emberley's sense of humor has us all chuckling (or roaring in doubled-over laughter if your name is eve and you are now fully immersed in the world of pre-k humor). i think it is about time we made these books a part of our collection, the vintage editions if possible. i'm not sure it gets better than that first cover. 

(i'm withholding my own drawings. while i was really pleased with myself, i think it is really much more widely impressive that a four-year-old can draw a unicorn made mostly of circles than her 29 year old mom. . .)

artistic temperaments

each saturday, if his work schedule cooperates, chip spends the mornings with just the girls. they go the park, or the playground or the botanic gardens, or sometimes they just hang out in the apartment. but no matter where they go, there are always markers, crayons and paper in tow, because no activity is truly complete without some drawing. it usually begins with chip doing the majority of the work (make a princess! a t-rex! mommy and a rhino on a trampoline!) but soon the girls take over as the artists.

i adore their art, but what i find most interesting and endearing is the consistency in approach the two girls take, regardless of age or artistic phase.

ruth keeps her work free and spontaneous. she never plans or thinks too much about what she draws, just does it. when she is finished she throws the crayons down (or across the room) shouts "i all done!" and walks away.

eve takes her time; drawing slowly and carefully. she tortures herself trying to get just the right color, make just the right line. finally, when she is ready, her art is taken to the door. other pictures are shuffled, magnets are chosen and the piece is gently placed. as she backs away she holds her marker at the ready, just in case.

i love how who they are is so evident in everything they do. . . and really, is there anything better than kid's art?

eve's doodles

these drawings are some of my favorite things of all time. i know she'll have to move on in her artistic development, but for now i am insanely in love. there will be a sad period of mourning when she no longer makes this striking art out of our to do lists and paper plates.

chip ingeniously suggested that i should get these designs on fabric somehow. i've got some things in the works, and hopefully in the next week or so i'll make this idea into something for eve to twirl and run in for the spring and summer, and something for me to hang onto for the next decade or so as i watch this little girl morph.

** were eve aware i was showing her art, she would find it very important to explain that the scribbles on some of her drawings are from "ruthie being a racsal [spelled as currently pronounced] and making a mess on my paper."

she's got skills

for the first two and a half years of her life, eve refused to do any art projects. she would, occasionally, be willing to pick up a black pen and scribble or draw a circle. but crayons? markers? glue? heavens, no. not unless i shamelessly bribed her, and even then it never turned out well for us. . . . until the magic of stamping with oranges. thank you, kids craft weekly. for the first time eve didn't complain or sit lethargically, and i didn't end up wanting to melt all the crayons down into one giant brick and throw it through the window. it was an art-day miracle.

since that glorious day she has totally developed as an artist. she is a minimalist, often drawing just a few lines in the same color as the paper, but she does it and really likes it. painting, drawing, cutting, stamping and sculpting, she'll do it all. she's intense and will occassionally get really angry about the outcome of a project and cry or tear it up, but for the most part she seems willing to accept the slow evolution of her abilities.

on sunday she reached a new level; she drew her first person! her daddy and then our whole family, right on chip's birthday poster. no arms, hair or noses. we have only the essentials- head, eyes, mouth and two long legs. i'm in love. . . with the art and with eve all over again.