How a 3-year-old leaves her work
/by Mary Beth
How to Calm a Cranky Afternoon
/Stir
two cups flour
one cup salt
2 cups water
four Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tsp cream of tartar
in a heavy saucepan
cook over medium-low heat
until it's so stiff you need a tall, strong boy
to continue stirring for you
turn out onto waxed paper
sprinkle liberally with food coloring
you might want to choose purple because
if you add a few drops
lavender essential oil
magical things will happen...
in the kneading and the rolling
Mama will inhale the lovely scent and find her shoulders
relaxing
and then the cherubs will come
from near and far
to twist and pound and roll
and
and sculpt
and sniff.
Lavender and squishing dough through one's fingers--
creating silliness--
calming craziness--
magically
quieting
a rowdy rumpus!
No lavender? Vanilla extract works nearly as well:-)
The Fine Art of Fingerpainting
/
A few weeks ago, we had a fingerpainting party in the backyard.
My neighbor came over and brought with her an teenaged exchange student from France who was staying with her family for awhile.
The girls "painted" and we chatted. And a good time was had by all.
Our French visitor commented that she had never seen anything like it.
Later that evening, Katie said to me, "Mama, didn't you say that C was from France?"
"I did. She lives in France with her family and is visiting to have a chance to practice English."
"And don't the French have all that really good art. You know, like Monet and the Versailles and everything?"
"They do. Lots of very fine art."
"Then how in the WORLD could she never have heard of fingerpaints? Can you believe that? She's lived her whole life and never, ever, fingerpainted.
Amazing."
