The crayons are the lessor of the two evils, because at least I can wash them off the floor, wipe off the tables/windows/pillows/sheets/clothes, and vacuum up the forgotten pieces of crayon that will never know the joy of coloring.
Stickers, on the other hand, combined with New Mexico sunshine streaming through windows in the afternoon, equals Super Glue Alternative. We are seriously scraping off stickers and sticker bits on a daily basis, and no matter how much we teach her to put them on paper, she refuses to succumb to the theory that stickers must stick in one place. She tries to tear them off the paper, too, with the result that poor little Elmo is usually decapitated, Blue's Clues is without his trademark blue ears, and I'm often using my fingernails to clean the floor. Seriously. Gross.
Of course, none of this stops me from trying to create Anika the Artist. Her talent for soccer far outweighs her artistic abilities, however, mostly because coloring requires one to sit still and contain oneself in an 8.5 by 11" space. But hey, we discovered that she's left-handed. She gets that from her Grandpa Jim and Aunt Sarah.
Here is her pièce de résistance to date.
And here she is putting stickers where she thinks they should go:
As for Reni, in contrast, he is about the most chill baby on the planet. Here he is after his bath a few nights ago. You can practically see the "hey, thanks, dude, I'm all chill and stuff, even though I'm just looking at the wall, it's cool" look in his eyes.
We haven't even used the baby swing with him. Mostly because Anika has taken full possession.
It's hard not to pay less attention to the second child, especially when they are so easygoing. But he's not starving for attention. At least I hope not. One thing is for sure: he's not starving in the literal sense. Look at him; he has to sleep spread eagle! And he's got more chins than a Beijing phone directory. Armando has nicknamed him 'fatty.' I still think he's the cutest thing since Anika, though, fat and all.
Speaking of cute, here is Anika playing in her sandbox yesterday.
And one more of our sweet little man:
First of all? Fat babies are the best. Nothing better than all that chub. Secondly? I couldn't get Sofia to press hard enough on the paper with the crayon for a long time. Still can't. We use markers instead so she doesn't have to press as hard to see her marks. I love Anika's masterpiece! Thanks for more pictures - wish I could rush over and give them both hugs and love!
ReplyDelete