Monet at work...

I will openly admit that I am not the best about doing arts and crafty type things with the girls. It is because I'm lazy. And I don't look forward to the prep work, or the clean-up, that inevitably comes along with the project only for them to participate for three minutes and then declare that they're 'all done' and want to watch Sesame Street. It's just not my idea of a good time most days. Don't get me wrong...we color, and play with play dough, and occasionally get out the crayola toddler paints (more like funny shaped markers) that we have. One recent day though, I got a wild hair up my bottom, and let them finger paint. I'll admit that it wasn't so bad and I actually enjoyed it. What amuses me the most about this, thought, is how differently the girls approached the activity. Both were very excited, but the similarity stopped there...

Notice Lilly...paint on her face, and all over her fingers and hands...she dove right in, mixed all the colors together and continued to paint in the same spot on a piece of copy paper (a side note...not the best for finger painting, but all I had handy). She declared that she was painting a picture of the cow jumping over the moon. This is the only thing that she ever colors or paints...thank you Elmo's World. Months (and I mean months) ago, on Elmo's World, a little boy showed Dorthy how he drew a picture of the cow jumping over the moon. Now, anytime we are doing anything artsy and you ask Lilly what she is making, this is what she says. Every now and then I can really encourage her and get her to declare that she has made something else...but those instances are few and far between. What can I say, except she sadly may have inherited my lack of artistic ability and creativity...

Now...let's take a look at my dear Clara-belle. Focused...engaged...tidy. Her colors are still perfectly in neat puddles on her plate, and she slowly places one finger at a time in each color before gently touching them to her paper. Very dainty.... Clara is still not talking a ton, so sometimes there is no telling what is going on in that little mind of hers. Maybe she is our creative genius. Or if she is lucky she got her daddy's artistic abilities instead of mine. Only time will tell! How differently she attacked the task of painting than her sister...at least she painted all over the paper, instead of in the same spot the whole time. Clara seemed to be the more contemplative one in the project, taking her time before delving into things. Lilly, on the other hand, jumped right in with both hands. It kind of makes me wonder if this is a sign of how they will approach other things in the future...