Atticus the Fearless Draw-er

I've been collecting these drawings for awhile now. When Atticus first began school every piece of paper he brought home had a drawing on the back of it. I was surprised, amazed, happy to have these brought home day after day. I love that Atticus finishes a sheet of homework at school and flips it over to make a story in pictures. Hooray. As the year has unfolded, he still does this though not quite as often. But sitting to draw (or do his take-home homework) is still one of his first choices of activity -- up there with sitting to read or wildly wrestling with his brothers. Three sensible, balanced favorite activities, I think (-:

He made a friend cry. Accidentally.

A dragon

Happy boy and girl (prince and princess) with a snow owl and polar bear and a house with a Santa hat.

This is my favorite. One day he brought it home on the back of a piece of schoolwork. I asked what it was. He said it was from a day dream he had that morning. He dreamt that he was lying in bed asleep when he smelled something funny. I asked good funny or bad funny. He said, definitely good funny. Then he said he opened his eyes from sleeping and there was a very pretty girl lying next to him. I asked, she smelled funny? He said, yes, girls smell different than boys. Like how, I asked. Different, maybe like lemons. Anyway, he said, the pretty girl was lying there and we smiled at each other. We were happy. Then we got married. That was his day dream. That is so so wonderful.

A robot

This is actually a drawing from our neighbor girl Gigi. She and Atticus used to draw each other pictures and write short notes and run them down to each other's mailboxes. Since they started school, Gigi has made some close girl friends in her own grade (she's in 1st) and hasn't been as interested in a friendship. I am thankful for the fun they had sharing drawings though. Even in kindergarten, there has been many heartaches and learning how to forgive and understand friendships. It is weird being a mother seeing shadows of what your child is trying to figure out. Today he wrote a letter to a friend at school with a drawing of a boy crying and a girl standing next to him. It said, You made me sad. On the back it had the girl's name with the word, Meanie, under it -- Atticus had erased it and put, You made me sad, from Atticus. I asked him what happened. He said that their friend Caitlin had decided to sit next to him instead of the other girl and the girl was angry and said Atticus was now her enemy and they would never be friends again. He was upset that she said it and thought all three of them should still be friends. We talked about forgiveness and being kind even when others are mean. And what jealousy means. And how to cheerfully try to include others even when they are angry or upset. It is definitely confusing. Sigh. Kindergarten. Ai ai ai.

Four different monsters: What I like best about this is that Atticus assigned himself a project to try drawing different kinds of things. Like 4 different cars or 4 different houses. This is part of the series.

Castle

This is a self-portrait as silly elastic man.

"Played with Deke" is the caption he wrote for school. I like that it is a super hero in a cape taking on a giant hand protecting a princess.

This is Atticus and his dad going to a baseball game. Pretty awesome pants and beard for Brad, eh?

Atticus sitting drawing at the table (see the pencil/marker/pen tray with the marker bucket) to draw while I keep him company ironing clothes.

This looks like some kind of tribal dream painting, right? The stars, the bird flying, the strange head of the bigger guy reaching out to the smaller guy...weird.