The Artiste

Lila is an artist.  I'm not sure what kind yet, but she is.  Since she has crawled, we have found little groupings of things around the house. One day it will be a collection of candles and corks creating a frame.  Another day, it is a pile of sparkly things: coins, jewels off plastic rings, fool's gold.  She also can't resist testing the colors of things.  Like the one time I attempted to treat myself with a fancy tube of red Chanel lipstick (I don't really wear lipstick, but somehow this felt necessary at the time) and it lasted two days before she broke it off on her face, smeared all over from nose to chin.

In the past couple of weeks, Atlanta and its suburbs have been enjoying spring.  For all of us, that translates into pollen.  Everything is yellow.  It's impossible to ignore.  It can frustrate you, or you can be Lila.  Lila painted her face with pollen.  She dyed paper with pollen.  She created paper mache with pollen and scraps of paper and made baas relief designs.

She cuts and colors and draws and paints, but she also dances and sings.  This morning we were treated to a recital that included selections entitled, among others, Angel Fly, Elephant Flume, and Frog Real.  They were interpretive dance with acrobatic elements, sometimes accompanied by singer/songwriter originals.  Really awesome.  You can imagine.  But the best part was when she asked  me to try and promptly judged "I'm better than you."  And then continued "And you know Daddy isn't any good.  He never is."  Well, we probably shouldn't have laughed, but it's hard to help it.

Our house has white walls and I'm pretty much resigned to, at some point, having them redecorated -- Lila style.  I feel sure that we have some drama lessons, dance lessons and art camp in our future.  I have no doubt that she will have a unique fashion style.  Bless her heart.

However, what I'm really looking forward to is seeing what she's going to make of this little kernel she has in there.  I'm really, honestly amazed at her vision.  She creates some great collages out of trash.  She paints with pollen.  She sees something in nothing.  It's worth a little lipstick.