Artwork

We decided to be good parents today and try to do an art project with the boys after dinner. Winter is coming soon and we’ll need something to keep them busy during Christmas break. Legos, movies, and driving each other nuts can only last so long, so why add some creative expression to the mix?

The idea was to make a fall tree using some construction paper and a maple leaf paper-cutter that we used for our wedding invitations so many years ago. We setup the table and put all of the materials out. Adam was almost immediately focused because we were using scissors. Adam loves scissors. He loves them so much that he couldn’t stop cutting the paper that his tree was supposed to be glued on. Go figure. At least he was interested. Zachary refused to focus on the art project and spent the first time asking if he could have his own peanut butter English muffin in every way possible. I mistakenly brought one to the table (as the end of my dinner). Bad idea.

Eventually everyone got the hang of things. Sally worked with Adam to put his tree together; he progressed nicely, cutting out the various pieces and putting them on. Zach needed a bit more help. He’s not very good with scissors and prefers to tear everything. Even when I helped him cut something with the scissors he would inevitably tear it off at the end. It was an interesting experience – they cut things all the time at school but I don’t see it so I don’t actually have any idea whether they are any good at it. Zach may have been playing lazy too.

After finishing the tree I asked Zach what he wanted. He said he wanted a lady and that she was going to be a police officer. I cut out a blue block for her shirt, brown pants, and a yellow head. By that time he told me that his lady was going to be a man and needed a hat. So I cut out a blue hat. It wasn’t big enough. I cut out another hat. That wouldn’t do either. Now the lady man police officer was going to be an astronaut and needed a helmet. I cut out a circle and then cut inside of it to make room for the head. Wrong. Zach took the piece that I cut out and pasted it over the person’s face. He said she could be a robot.

By that time Sally and Adam had moved onto making a tractor. Oh. Boy. Things were, of course, humming along on that side of the table with Sally putting pieces on the tractor and Adam happily cutting every piece of paper he could get his hands on. Things started well for Zach. I cut out a tractor body and he glued it on, cut out wheels, he glued them on. Then I thought I’d be clever. Zach had been looking to Sally and Adam’s tractor for “inspiration” but I wanted to make ours a little different. I cut out two small white circles to put in the wheels as hub caps. I happily passed them over to Zach only to have him put them in the middle of the tractor. Not quite what I had in mind. Until, of course, Sally put hers on her wheels. Then and only then was it time to peel ours off of the paper and move them to the wheels.

That however, wasn’t the end of it. Zach needed a driver for his tractor. I cut out a body and a head and Zach pasted them on the paper. His person needed a hat so I cut one out. Too small. I cut out a larger hat. Too big. At that point Zach decide that the person was too small and peeled it off of the paper, demanding another. So I cut out a huge mega person with a huge mega head and Zach pasted that onto the page. Right as he was about to put the hat on he said “No, the hat is too SMALL!” So I cut out a ginormous humongous hat and that was perfect, for a fraction of a second. Before I knew it the person was too big and Zach was peeling it off the paper. Then he went into a complete meltdown demanding that he needed a GREEN hat!

By that point it was time to finish up and put things away. Wow. What an experience. If you haven’t noticed yet, Zach has a bit of an OCD issue 🙂 At least they had fun. Before you go, let me explain the picture above a little bit. The two pieces at the top are Adam and Sally’s, the bottom are Zach and mine. Note the glue smear in the car where a person used to be and the faceless person next to the tree. He is wearing a “mask”. Kids.