Happy Holidays Everyone!

Hope all your dreams come true and your day is filled with joy.

A Tour of The Christmas Tree

Conversations with My Son

Son: Mom, stop the car!
Me: Why? Please don't scream like that when I'm driving.
Son: I lost a lego piece behind the seat.
Me: How many times have I told you not to bring legos in the car? I can't remove the seat.
Son: But I neeeeed that piece!
Me: Well, whose to blame for it getting stuck behind the seat?
Son: Darn gravity!

Me: If you keep using the wrapping paper to wrap up your cat and dog gifts (not really, he's just re-wrapping old toys), there won't be any left for your presents.
Son: That's ok because we need to save the trees by not wasting paper. Just put them under the tree as is.
Me: What about the paper you just used to wrap the cat toy?
Son: That's ok because he mostly plays with the paper, so it's not wasted.

Me: I'm making you eggs and bacon for lunch ok?
Son: What have I told you about eating eggs?
Me: What?
Son: Chicken eggs are supposed to hatch into chickens.
Me: Not these eggs, they are not fertilized.
Son: Well then, we need to get a rooster.
Me: Uhmm, yeah, no.

Happy Birthday Tree 2011

My son just turned seven and this is the second photo next to his Starfruit tree.
He was given that tree for his sixth birthday by a family friend. Last year a bloggy pal (thanks Lin!) suggested I take a photo of him next to it every year. So we did.  Last year it looked like this:

You'll notice that the tree is in a different location now. I had to move it because it was going to grow too close to the electrical line above it.  That may have slowed down it's growth some, plus last winter we had three freezes and I lost some of the top. It has recovered and seems to be growing well, as is my son!

A Young Mathematician's Version of Art

All I wanted was a simple circle snowman or a stick figure reindeer, but that was not to be.  My son was trying to draw a picture for a Christmas card to send to his grandma. He used to draw wonderful detailed pictures when he was younger, but now he stares at blank paper unable to start.

He has elaborate ideas in his head but won't attempt to draw them, because they won't be perfect. It has taken a while for me to understand this. No amount of claims about art not needing to "be perfect" helps. I now realize that the reason his art work seemed more detailed than other children's art when he was younger, was because the thoughts and images in his head were also more detailed. 

However at three or four, they weren't so intricate yet that his hands couldn't still draw an image he was happy with. Now at seven, his ideas and thought processes have zoomed way ahead of his fine motor skills and he is unable to produce any drawn image he is happy with. It's also one of the reasons he hates to write words, because they are not perfect.

Today I thought I'd help him get started by giving him some Christmas shaped cookie cutters to use as templates. I thought I was onto something when I saw him busy putting pencil to paper. I was wrong.
Moments later I found him cutting out a ruler he had drawn, so that he could measure the different sizes of the cookie cutters.

He then used his "handmade ruler" to measure his work space and decided it needed to be expanded in order to be more useful. That led to drawing a floor plan, re-arranging furniture and constructing shelving etc, etc... Maps, diagrams, algorithms and so forth are all acceptable uses for a pencil in his mind.

So we do not have a Christmas card for grandma, but he does have a more functional crafting area, should he ever decide to actually craft! Oy.