This is a portrait in watercolor of ME done by my 6-year-old yesterday afternoon.
This is, apparently, what I look like after a completely frustrating half-hour in which the girls are cleaning up their room before they are allowed to paint. So much complaining and whining and compromising (and cajoling of the 4-year-old by the 6-year-old who Just Wants To FREEKIN Paint) went on that I just about Lost It Completely and did a little bit ‘o yellin’.
I don’t usually make them clean up before painting, but they’d emptied the entire contents of the closet on top of the usual clutter of stuff that litters the floor in there, and it was SO BAD that I was sure we were breaking all sorts of fire codes, so I made them clean up their room first today.
And after all that, I was so IRRITATED that I didn’t let them paint their Most Supremely Awesome Wooden Model Horses that they REALLY wanted to paint and just let them have plain old boring watercolors and paper. And the masterpiece above was the end result. And the sad thing is, it’s a pretty good painting. Yeah, I’m a bit jaundiced in her representation, but the facial expression was probably dead-on.
There seems to be this growing collection of Angry Mother Artwork in my house.
Here for instance is a picture my 4-year-old drew of me with marker a few months ago:
This was right around the time she reached one of my favorite milestones – starting to draw people. I just love this milestone. It’s such fun! Except for THOSE moments, like the one above, when my then 3-year-old, approached me with this particular gem and handed it to me and said:
Here, Mom. I drew this for you. It’s a picture of you being mad because the cat got in the house and pooped on the floor.
I took the paper with thanks and later on, scribbled a few clarifying points on the back:
Actually, it was my toddler who LET the cat in even though the cat is NOT ALLOWED in this house. And then, it was the toddler, not the cat, who pooped on the floor.
Notice my thick, free-falling grey tears. And the little angry pink crinkle in my forehead. Again, maybe not everything is the right color, or drawn to scale, but for a toddler, it ain’t bad.
Trust me, if your 3-year-old let the cat in, then pooped on the floor and tried to blame it on the cat, you’d look like that, too.
By the time they’re teenagers, I’ll probably look like this.
And the girls will probably paint it just beautifully.
Very funny. I am the proud owner of a watercolor my husband made of me, called “Mad Sara”. He claims he started out trying to make me look happy, but the paint just kept running down into a horrible frown.
That’s funny because my 4-year-old had painted a picture of her sister that day and the paint kept running so that it looked like giant tears were falling down her face. Which was a bit melodramatic but also fit the scenario. I would have put a picture of it in this post, but it eventually turned into this unidentifiable muck of running watercolors, so the effect was lost.
Makes me think I need to reconsider watercolors for the time being. At least until we’re through with the bizarre irrationalities that come with living with a 4-year-old.
I did let them paint the wooden horses the next day, btw.
Now that’s rich! Blaming the cat! Hoo Hoo. Love the paintings. Hey, look at all the time I have to read your blog and make comments now that I’m not blogging. I miss it already. Be prepared for a comeback. *snicker*
I would welcome a comeback from your blog. But if not, you can always be a Featured Commenter over here.
Or, you could blog, and then blame it on the cat. Something like this, perhaps:
“cxkmverp[t=rtheaikt lojeroitknxcmnewe]-sd427rfouh dlfjrt[pfghlk”
“Damn it, Fluffy! Get off the freekin’ keyboard!”
Hallmark moment!!! I haven’t laughed so hard all day. I’m sure my ds has a few of those hidden around as well.
Thanks Paula. BTW, I love your board name.