"Color, Color!"

It's no secret that A. loves painting and coloring.   But recently, she's mostly into watching M. color and draw for her (or, our friend E., who stayed over last night and put her art skills to work for A. this morning). She puts in a request, e.g., "how 'bout kitty cat?"  or "puppy, puppy?" along with a "please, okay!"  She also enjoys selecting a color that she'd like to see used.  And, yes, sometimes the requests are a little hard to meet, such as the ones for a hippopotamus or a zebra.  But M., thankfully, never disappoints.

This evening, A. and M. were really getting their art on.  And, yes, it made going to bed very, very difficult. After a good time of art play, A. dissolved into unhappy tears, unwilling to leave her drawing table.  Not even sing-songing "crayons away, crayons away, it's time to put the crayons away.  We'll see you soon another day" - which usually prompts her to eagerly comply - and a promise of more coloring tomorrow eased her out of her chair . . . 

Sniff, sniff.  But eventually, placing her art supplies in her new and favorite Santa bucket distracted her from her sorrows.  Just knowing Klaus would look after her crayons seemed to help and off to bed we went.