Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Smile at the Mess

I saw a funny post the other day about Pinterest fails.  I'll be honest, there are a few pinteresty ideas, I've totally nailed.  Wine gift basket, awesome.  Baby in a pumpkin, perfection.  Footprint art for dad,  adorable.  But truthfully, when it comes to doing anything with kids, especially toddlers, things rarely go right, the first time at least.
Pinterest Wins!

Last night, I sat down with the girls to glue their puff to Santa's beard for our Christmas Countdown.  I planned to let them color while I started dinner.  I moved their adorable Santas to the back of the kitchen table, sat out a few coloring sheets and blank papers, and put the bucket of crayons nearby.  Unfortunately, David bought Reagan some markers which somehow got mixed into the crayon box.  I wasn't really paying attention to their art time.  They were content, I got dinner in the oven, well, I turn around and look at their work and see this...





Now, before I actually was a mom, I would have probably been a little more upset about this creative expression.  Between mothering toddlers and spending 3 years in kindergarten, the perfectionist in me has let go, the control freak had to take a permanmet vacation.  A bit of me still cringes when I see my beautiful vision trampled on a bit, but tonight when we were waiting for our ravioli to bake, we painted a few of the salt dough ornaments we made over the weekend.  They dried and before bedtime, I added Rea's name to hers and some red ribbon too.  She loved it so much she took it to bed. She didn't love it because I instructed her every brushstroke or insist that she not mix the red and purple paint.  She loved it because she did it herself.  Kids today are forced to be big too fast, their little imaginations forced to take a break while they are crammed full of curricular knowledge.  Creative expression was somehow left out of the common core. Yes, I will teach her to say please and thank you.  I will make her follow directions on where to store her dirty laundry, but when it comes to creating with my littles, I will do one of the toughest things for me.  I will let go and smile at the mess.