Do Not Disturb

Last evening, my daughter asked me to come over and watch Kenz while she and a friend went to dinner.

As soon as I got in the door, Kenz was reaching up for my purse to get the box sticking out.

It was a Christmas gift lost in the shuffle, found at the perfect moment on a January evening.

These art kits can be purchased at the TJ Maxx type stores in the toy department. They usually contain an oil-based paint and something to paint on. We've done plates before, this one was pots. Clay pots.

I made a big deal about not getting the paint on Mommy's table and we spent a good ten minutes prepping our work space and searching for an old shirt to be Kenz's artist smock. The directions suggested sketching your design on the pot before painting.

I asked Kenz if she wanted help, but she was already in the flow, concentrating on dipping and brushing. Her results confirmed it again--- I love children's art. My pot is all in a row, clean little lines, painted neatly. Kenz's piece is a unique collection of modern smudge-effect flowers, complete with leaves and stems, that didn't need to be green. Hers is an aesthetically pleasing object, mine a painted clay pot.

We cut some flowers from her mom's bouquet and put them in a paper cup that fit in side the pot. Beautiful!

After cleaning our mess, Kenz showed me the dolls her other Nana, Nana Sandy had bought her earlier in the day, two tiny collector type dolls in little boxes. She studied their painted features. One has braids under a little straw hat, both are dressed in sweet printed dresses.

"Look Nana, they have names on the boxes, would ya read them to me?"

"This one is Abigail and this one is Katherine."

I reached over to pick up one of the dolls, when she gave me a warning.

"Nana, you have to be very careful with these dolls, because they are Porshe A Lin."

I held back my smile when she said the word, I had to hear it again, hopefully she would mispronounce it again. She repeated it, so sure of herself, so sure of the sophistication of her dolls.

"They are Porshe A Lin and they break easy," she said. Nana Sandy has a Porshe A Lin

doll she had since she was a little girl like me. She never broke it. It looks like an angel, but isn't one.

Kenz is five and fives don't mispronounce many words. When she was learning to talk she said Farkles instead of Sparkles, just one I remember from a list of heart throb mistakes.

Now that she is five, I don't think it hurts not to correct her, at least for a few days anyhow.

Children's creations and language is sometimes much better when not disturbed.