Do All Four-Year-Olds Have QUIRKS?

Today as I chased my son Luke, who's 4, around for a picture as he ran and hid deep under an table (picture below).  Just then, I thought to myself that he surely has many odd quirks such as these where he hides when mommy want to take his picture. It's been months since I've been able to easily snap a shot of his beautiful smiling face without having to make some sort of "deal" with him. I wondered to myself as I chased him, "do all 4-year-olds have odd quirks as these?".  What I have learned from these quirky behaviors is that they are short-lasting and not worth fighting or placing efforts into changing; unless of course you want to have high blood pressure.  The best lesson all parents learn through experience, and experience alone,  is that, some battles are just not worth fighting. You might start out with all sorts of neat ideas of hoe you want to raise this child but the child will MOLD you into a more flexible parent in not time; to put it mildly.  Before I had my own children I thought myself very sensitive to other parent's parental-related issues due to the fact that I had quite a few years teaching under my belt as well as a fancy education degree.  Yet, looking back now, I realize that I was often too quick to judge parents on how they dealt with their children's misbehaviors.  Yet life seems to always come full circle in the most ingenious of ways. For now as a parent I experience the reverse situation.   I see and feel the ways in which people without kids are often too quick to judge me in ways I deal with my child. What might seems like to an observer as us allowing Luke to carry on some less-than-pleasant and possibly disruptive behavior is actually a well planned approach on part of my husband and me. As hard as that may be to swallow, I actually choose not to fight some battles. 

 Luke making a face.....did not want his picture taken

He even hid under the table

It does not bother me one bit to see people without kids think of me as doing things wrong.  It's actually a reaffirming situation that shows me first hand that life has all its lessons built into time. In time, all knowledge will reveal itself and everyone is exactly where they should be in terms of their learning cycle. I smile and think to myself, "wait....just wait...."

My Daughter's Crayon Obsession

My daughter has begun to draw and color using crayons.  For a 1.5 year old to sit and color for 40-50 minutes straight is pretty cool. She picks out each color and makes lines as if she had some idea in mind.     

Selling Art Kits on My Online Store Website

  I thought of this this morning and went to Michael's to get everything I would need to make one kit. 

 The kit includes:

1. 16x20 gallery wrapped canvas

2. Mod Dodge Glue and sealant

3. Flat brush to paint and use with glue

4. 1 lb. recycled paper circles

5. Fiskars puncher (1/2 inch squares)

6. Booklet with instructions and ideas of various projects you can explore

7. 4 photos of my own work and ways I have used the same materials to make abstract collages.

8. a list of resources of where to buy more punchers of various sizes and shapes. 

9. Tube of white acrylic paint to paint canvas, prior to creating your collage on it. 

If interested you can view it at my store. 

This is what a Fiskar's Squeeze Puncher looks like. You can buy them to make any shape and in various sizes. 

I always use recycled materials. Here are samples of what the small squares look like.  They measure around 1/2" across. 

 The circle ones are my favorite. These measure 2" across. 

I am making a HUGE paper mosaic of a woman turning into a tree. I am halfway done. This item will be available for sale at my Etsy shop soon. 

Here is an abstract collage I made from the circle and square punchers. All using recycled materials of course. This collage is available for purchase at my online store. 

Here is a collage I made from large circles cut into spirals. You can purchase this collage on my Etsy store. 

Here is a photo I took from the cutouts.  I love to place a light source coming from one direction and seeing what happens. This one is my favorite. You can buy prints of this and other like at on my online art store on Etsy.com. 

If you're inspired to make your own....please send me pictures....I love knowing that my work inspires others to get creative. 

A Word About The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

I just had to read more about this Recovery and Reinvestment Plan and surprisingly found more info on it on Wikipedia.  I love Wikipedia, but that is an entire new post for another day. 

To set the tone for my views I have to bring out this one line first, "

"On January 28, 2009, a full page advertisement with the names of approximately 200 economists who are against Obama's plan appeared in The New York Times and The Wall St. Journal. The funding for this advertisement came from from the libertarian Cato Institute. The ad stated, "... we the undersigned do not believe that more government spending is a way to improve economic performance. More government spending by Hoover and Roosevelt did not pull the United States economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s... To improve the economy, policymakers should focus on reforms that remove impediments to work, savings, investment, and production. Lower tax rates and a reduction in the burden of government are the best ways of using fiscal policy to boost growth."

Remove impediments to investments! Isn't that what got us into this ridiculous mess to begin with....de-regulation?  BURDEN OF GOVERNMENT! Government is only a burden to bankers and investors who started this whole problem...These are the same people that cry "socialism" whenever the middle class (and all the way down to the poor) asks for the same benefits they enjoy.  

It makes me sad when this rhetoric of being against BIG GOVERNMENT gets repeated by people who would benefit from big government. These very people run around unaware that the public school system is a socialist framework, and so is the U.S.Mail.....We certainly enjoy these amazingly free benefits but then are taught to believe that a government-run anything is the kiss of death. 

When regular health insurance costs runs to over 1K/month how could any person be against universal health care for example. So easily we are persuaded against such an ideal by the very people who are getting rich off of this system now, the insurance companies. They say the lines would be too long, the quality would be horrible. We stupidly believe this and cry "no" to something that might save our lives one day. For as you all very well know, just because you have insurance does not mean you will be covered for all services. The pencil-pushers non-doctors have the last say as to whether or not you get that money. 

So friends more government does not scare me one bit. What DOES scare me awake at night is our military spending. We have bases in 156 countries, totaling in 702 overseas bases and another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories. Our military spending budgeted for 2009 $651.2 billion dollars. With this money we could make the lives of every American live in prosperity, health and well educated....but the priorities of our country is not it's people, but maintaining its status as the world power. 

As an artist I often visualize nations as people; filled with their own unique personalities. I see the U.S. often as a bully who too often indignantly cries when other countries do not follow the established rule of law, yet, we cross those same lines as we see fit with little regard for other countries and their sovereignty. When our provervial muscles are driving our actions, the heart has no say. 

As Americans, we are still in our "youth" in terms of how we see ourselves amongst other nations. As we all know,  most young people often see things in black and white and in extremes. To a young person, BIGGER IS better, louder is best....they are all ego.....To a seasoned heart, bigger is not better, and it's actually a detriment to peace to be so centered around such fake ideals of grandeur. 

We all have encountered the young driver armed in a brand new vehicle zipping past us like a maniac down the road, without one once of through to the fact that all around them are innocent lives, just trying to get from one place to another. Living in America makes most young beings crave this form of grandiosity; we live in an imagined bliss shaped by TV and movies in which we are always the protagonist. Such forms of grandiosity can be so short lived and unsubstantial. On the other hand, compassion drives the heart of a wise person. Perhaps one day America's leaders will borrow ideals from the East which emphasize compassion and camaraderie and run this country with a set of priorities congruent with these ideals. To think that bigger is better is the ideal of a young mind....we need to grow up. 

Would love to hear your comments. 

Testing Prep Filling Up Kids' Minds

I understand the need to make sure all kids do well in school and this being one way to find this out for sure. But to spend a huge part of most days these days doing test prep is not adding to one's learning experience. 

As a mother of children who will most likely be in the public school systems for 12 years, I am very concerned about this issue and know I will be more and more at odds with it as my children get older and ready to take them as well. Kids are not learning anything while they are being prepped for standardized tests; well, except how to bubble in the circles, a, b, c or d and how to eliminate their obviously wrong answers. 

As a person who has always learned best in doing, this type of education would be the death to my creativity.  I would love to see more emphasis placed on schools teaching more self-learning and more meta-cognitive type of projects, where kids become the evaluators of their own work and learning. But this type of learning requires a much higher standard and much more care and dedication on the part of the teacher. But below I created a list of things I would love to see in my kids' schools and am sending this wish out to the Universe in hopes that more and more parents become empowered to take the reins of their kids' education and demand that creativity and pride in one's individual gifts become once again the focus of education. 

I would love my kids to:

1. go to a school where aesthetics was important. Where kids work was smart and beautiful. 

2. go to a school where all adults talk to kids with respect. 

3. a school where the ones in power valued lessons being taught without the use of xeroxes 

4. go to a school where consequences for bad behavior did not include being taken out of gym or outside time. 

5. go to a school were children learned about the larger world....like hey, we are at war....info on elections...etc. 

6. go to a school where no more than 2-3 hours were spent on test prep.....

The print above can be purchase on my online art store site on Etsy.  Would love to hear what you have to say about it. 

Carrot Apple Craze Hits Again

My son, daughter, husband and I realized it was months since we last made carrot-apple juice. We use to make this juice every night with my son when carrots were on sale for 4lbs/$1. Now that Nora is older we thought she'd enjoy being part of this new nightly tradition.

Luke and Nora fight over the carrots

Luke lectures Nora on how to break the carrots.

"This is how you break them Nora"

Nora conducts a quality control sniff.

...Now a quality control taste.

Our cut up carrots and apples. 3 carrots and 1 apple make an 8 once glass of juice. 

Luke is the one who sticks the carrots in the machine. 

Luke pushes the cut carrots through the machine. 

Nora drinks the carrot-apple juice.  We are a "straw" family. 

Luke makes enough for Lela (grandma).

When you have carrot-apple, you always get "carrot-apple juice" face. 

Nora tried to sneak in some of Luke's juice. 

My Obsession With Byron Katie

I first saw an interview with Byron Katie on Oprah and became curious about her work. I then borrowed all her books from the local library and devoured them.  I liked her work so much that I also borrowed her books on CD and listened to them on my ipod and listened to them during my hour walks.  Is there anyone you have found that highly elevates your mind?

Here are some samples of her videos on YouTube.com: