Art

Luke and I had some awesome fun-time today. We painted, went to the park, and played in the sprinklers. One of my all-time favorite things to do with Luke right now is paint. We use Crayola Washable Kid's Paint and have come up with some great stuff that even he can do. I find that most preschool stuff is still a little too advanced for Luke at this stage, but painting gives him a great way to have fun, be creative, get messy, and learn.

For instance, today we took some paper towel rolls that I had been saving for just such an occasion. I put various paint colors on washable plates and Luke dipped the ends of the rolls in paint (one end for each color) and made prints. It emphasized colors, the circle shape, and allowed him to invent new ways to be creative-- he started out doing individual circles spaced a little apart, then found it looked different when he put several circle prints on top of each other. When he got tired of it, but I didn't want to waste any paint, we made it into something new by dipping forks and spoons into the paint and seeing how the prints turned out on paper.

Other things we've done are our fingers, feet, feathers, apples (if you cut them in half sideways, you get a really cool star shape in the center), rocks, cotton swabs, etc. It really is a fantastic way to keep otherwise mischievous toddlers, very entertained.

Music Listings

I've kind of lost my blogging mojo this week. I don't know why, just one of those weeks I guess.

So, despite the drizzly bleakness that is today, I'm contented with the warmth of some mommy-son down time with Luke and the rhythms of my favorite music. It's one of those days. You know, the days when you don't want to do anything else, but watch the rain and then dance around the room with your two-year-old while he wears his too-small dinosaur costume and eats Cheerios. So, since it is one of those days, and I'm not doing much, I thought I'd share some of my favorite songs with you all. Thrilling, I know. Let me just start by saying I'm not a huge fan of sharing my music with people, mostly because I hate the thought of them not liking it, I mean, how could you not???, but still if you happen to not like it, please don't tell me. I don't really want to know. AND, I completely realize that not all of this music talks about good things, you know, puppies and kittens and cupcakes, I'm working on that...so don't tell me about that either. Basically, just like it or don't say anything.

I'm a connoisseur of music; I go through phases where I'll listen to just one style for awhile and then switch to another. This switching usually correlates with different seasons or moods that I happen to be in. There is always a set of songs though, that I like to come back to that are just classic good. I'll give you a run down of the main fifteen or so.

1. Hotel California- Eagles (by far and away the best song ever written) listen here

2. Wild World- Cat Stevens

3. Last Dance With Mary Jane- Tom Petty

4. Fields of Gold- Sting

5. Fire and Rain- James Taylor

6. Layla (unplugged)- Eric Clapton

7. Summer of '69- Brian Adams

8. Runaway Train- Soul Asylum

9. Don't Stop Believin' - Journey

10. End of the Innocence- Don Henley & Bruce Hornsby

11. Brown Eyed Girl- Van Morrison

12. California Dreamin'- Mamas & the Papas

13. Boys of Summer- Don Henley

14. Danny's Song- Kenny Loggins

15. Livin' on a Prayer- Bon Jovi

Ah. Now that's good music. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of different genres, but this my "making-the-four-hour-
drive-home-while-the-golden-fields-are-folding-past" genre. Stuff I listened to on the way home from college when I had nothing but an empty road in front of me, and time to really think things through. It's happy music. Mostly. Sometime later I'll give you a run down of really good depressing music. I'm really sort of drawn to that kind of music. That heart-ache melancholy stuff that just makes you think of sad things, but you can't not listen to it. You're just dying to hear that playlist huh?