This morning Thalia drew a picture of Daddy. Daddy holding a whistle. What’s particularly impressive about it (no, not the whistle) are the limbs- she’s never drawn them before.
“What made you give daddy legs in the picture?”
“So he could play.”
“What can you do with legs? What kind of playing?”
“Stand.
“Yes! And what else?’
“Walk.”
“What else?”
“Jump!”
“Yes, jump! And what else?”
“Twirl around.”
Which I’m sure daddy does often when the rest of us aren’t looking.
Soon she’s going to be drawing pictures of families that look like we do – a mommy and a daddy and two girls. Maybe twirling. But of course, that’s not how all families look.
I just wrote a post over at Wonderland on AlphaMom asking how we describe families to our children when the old definitions become outmoded.
I know a whole lot of readers here have their own cool kinds of families and probably have strong opinions about such things. (Hally. Joanne. Amy. T.) I’d be obliged if you headed over and joined the discussion.
I melted when I saw Thalia’s drawing of her daddy. There is nothing so precious as kids’ artwork. LOVE IT! In fact, I put up a wrought iron curtain rod in my hallway and put those curtain rings with the clippy-thingies on it. I use it to hang my boys’ drawings and artwork. It works well and doesn’t look too bad, especially when the front of the fridge is full!>>My 3 1/2-year-old drew a picture of me for mother’s day. As he pointed out my “parts,” he said, “And here’s your long nose.” I immediately put my hand to my nose to feel if it had somehow grown in the night. I never thought of myself as having a “long nose.” But then I tried to make myself feel better by telling myself that he probably drew ALL noses like that. Until he showed me the drawing of himself…with a perfectly proportional nose…dang! Kids call it like they see it, don’t they? 🙂>>Paula>boogersandburps.blogspost.com
I can’t sign in on Typekey(long story), but I did have this discussion with my kiddo about 9 years ago (she was 6). She asked if you had to have a man and a woman to have a baby, or get married (the two were joined in her mind). So I asked if she wanted the science answer or the love answer. She asked for the science answer first, and I told her that a man and a woman had to both give something to create a baby in the “science way”. Then she asked about the love answer. I said that anybody who loved each other could take care of a baby and be a family and choose to be married to each other. Being married means putting that person first in your life and working to be a family for each other – no matter what anyone else says. Even if you don’t want to have babies you can be a family. I also told her that sometimes a man or a woman helps to create a baby that belongs to someone else’s family- families are the people you love no matter what.>ChrisinNY
Frame it for Father’s Day. “First Photo With Legs” is a must-keep art piece.
I didn’t realize Nate had a handlebar mustache these days.>>Sweet!
Hey! Thalia’s daddy looks just like my kid’s daddy! (And just like me, too, except that I have crazy straight lines radiating from all around my head: it’s your HAIR, Mommy, Duh.)
ChrisinNY – I love your answer. I’m certain I won’t remember it by the time my daughter asks (she’ll be 1 at the end of this month), but I hope I come up with something just as sensible. Kudos on differentiating the two answers.
It’s just so cool to see kids development artistically and in so many other ways.>>Glad daddy got some legs. He deserves them.
Matt it! Frame it! Hang it somewhere in a place of honor.>>That drawing is wonderful – I love those first Mr. Potato Head-looking sketches. Yeah for legs!
First, you clearly have an art genius on you hands! 😉>>As for the family discussion, how many hours do you have? We talk a lot — is it enough? Is it too much? We’re still finding our way on this one. But PunditGirl is painfully aware that we don’t look alike, like other families we know. She said after soccer practice today, “I can’t wait to go back to China where everybody looks like me.”>>(Insert me crying here). Having said all this, there have been a few anti-adoption trolls over at my place — I don’t want to get them started on what families should look like.
All REAL Daddys twirl around when no one is looking:-)