Belle has loved drawing and doing crafts since before she could even talk. As an aside, I enjoy making crafts, although drawing has never been a forte for me. Yesterday, Jackson and I were talking and doing things to help him get ready (he's preaching at Crossroads this weekend) and Belle announced that she was drawing a picture for her Grammy on an envelope. She was laying on her tummy with her legs up and worked quietly for a good 10 minutes. When I checked on her and saw an actual drawing, I was positive that Jackson had drawn a smiley face in the center of the envelope and Belle was just adding strokes to the hair around the picture. Belle smiled and said, "This is Tati (Auntie) Kara". I asked Jackson and simultaneously showed him Belle's drawing and he said, "You drew that for her!" When we realized she drew it on her own, we praised her and were both pretty shocked. She isn't even 3 yet, neither of us are artists, and while she does a lot of crafts with me she doesn't draw every day... There's more!
After all of the parental praise, Belle said, "I'm going to do some more drawings..." She went back to work and after another 10 minutes she brought out the envelope and told a story for each character she had drawn. "Auntie Kara is in the middle; she's happy". "I'm there" (the little smiley face on the left). "Juliette is there and she has an owwie on her belly button and she's angry"- I had just told her yesterday that Juliette can't take a bath right away because she will have an owwie on her belly button for a little bit. When I asked her what the drawing above "Auntie Kara" was, she replied, "That's just a smiley face". Then she pointed at the smallest drawing above the picture of her and she said, "that's a pretend eye". I am often surprised by the things Belle says and already knows, but this drawing shocked both Jackson and I. This picture looks as good if not better than some of the first grade drawings that I collected in class last fall.
