Bienvenidos a three day blog. If you've just stumbled your way here or you arrived from a Google search (you know who you are), you may want to visit my about me page....and then subscribe to my RSS feed because, yes---I am that addictive.



Wednesday, August 22, 2007

well why don't you keep it for me.

I am smart.

Simply brilliant.

This was the optimistic thought bouncing around my head one day after my son
brought me a picture that he drew for me. I admired it, oohed and awed over it, and generally made quite the to-do about it. And then I attempted to hand it back. "oh no Mommy, its yours. I made it for you." I felt my smile falter for an instant but caught myself immediately. I was imagining all those precious drawings I already have. The ones that need their own room... or house... or paper storage facility.
Don't misunderstand me...I love these creative endeavors of my children. It is just the age old question of; "what do I do with all this crap artwork" that gives me pause. So I thought that I must have been channeling Einstein, when I coolly replied "oh I
love it, what a gorgeous picture. Will you keep it for me, so it stays safe?" He agreed readily and ran to put it in an undisclosed location.
Here is the success of my proposal.
Anthony keeps all of the drawings that he makes for me in his room and I never see them again. Any overflow he may have, is then passed on to Irene, who usually will give them to daddy for safekeeping. Daddy, who is infinitely nicer than me, accepts every paper gift, from Anthony, by announcing "I am going to keep this to put in my locker at work." I don't want to say that Daddy is a bold faced liar but I personally
know that Daddy should have enough artwork, by now, to paper the palacio de bellas artes.....

Inside and out.....

Twice!

Irene and I now need to safeguard all of the artwork that Anthony commissions for his own private collection.
Irene and Anthony have to keep the little drawings that daddy makes for them.

Daddy and I keep all of the work that Irene makes because: "oh look, doesn't that kind of look like a circle"---"oh look her first circle"---"oh look her first page full of circles".
Now luckily I don't draw so no one has to save anything of mine...but I am a compulsive list maker and I found that if I leave any list unattended that I will find
little hoarded piles of them in both Anthony and Irene's room.

Note to self:

TO DO TODAY
1.remove all "to do" lists from children's bedrooms.


2.figure out new plan for storing children's artwork.



A little art sampling of the maestro (dog at right is Daddy's handiwork)

11 comments:

  1. I too have Maddy papers everywhere... and get that little sad guilty feeling when I toss a few here and there! I never know which to keep, and when to toss, its just a horrible hidden problem of mothers everywhere!

    ReplyDelete
  2. what the heck....when you have no newborn in the house yet...were you doing up before eight!?!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Awwwwwwwww how cute! I love to look at little kids drawings...they are always sure to put a smile on your face!

    Of course I cracked up at "Daddy's handiwork"! Just priceless!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is so brilliant! Do you think it will work with older children who are smart enough to know you are conning them but not smart enough to figure out how to wear short sleeves in the summer and long sleeves in the winter?

    ReplyDelete
  5. one day when he moves out, you will find hi sart everywhere!! Maybe inside the mattress??

    ReplyDelete
  6. Your post is so timely... I just this week, while cleaning my attic, found a box of papers that I had saved from my kids' childhoods. One was a letter to Santa from my youngest, Jane, when she was 6 years old (she is now almost 27!) I am going to frame it and give it to her for Christmas. But many of the other papers did not have names or dates, so I don't know which child made them. Oh, no! I guess I thought I would never forget. But there has to be a limit... yes?!

    Sharon - Pinks & Blues Girls

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am going through this right now with the boys. William and Alex draw me whales and circles everyday. And they are these amazing little gifts for Mommy and Daddy. Now that we have about 100 a piece... what do we do!!?? :)
    - Audrey
    Pinks & Blues

    ReplyDelete
  8. hahaha, the pinochio picture when you said, Now I'm not saying Daddy's a liar...

    I'm cracking up!!!!!!!! funny post :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. That pictures is so funny! And this post is so relatable!

    I filled an entire file drawer with all Kaleb's kindergarten work last year. Now I have two in school and I'm sure to fill another before the year's over. Argh! I'm going to shuffle through them to find the most adorable and toss the rest (very secretively, of course!). But my kids are notorious for finding stuff I toss--like toys and stuff--as they take out the trash...

    ReplyDelete
  10. What I like to do is take a picture of the whole stack of art that is piled up. Then I just put it on a CD & toss the stuff I don't want to keep. That REALLY lifts the guilt, and the pile seems to almost disappear.

    ReplyDelete

from the peanut gallery