the act of observation
On Saturday night, the Bee decided to draw my portrait. I wish I could show you the picture she drew, but I can’t for the life of me get the scanner to recognize the computer. Suffice it to say that it is adorable (and I don’t look half bad, if I do say so myself).
The act of being observed by the Bee is an interesting one. The Potato has one basic face that he makes when he’s concentrating, regardless of what he’s concentrating on. He sticks his tongue out. Oh, there are variations–sometimes, it’s stuck out on the side, sometimes right in the middle. But if he’s concentrating, that tongue is out there.
The Bee, on the other hand, has a variety of concentration-faces. I had almost as fun watching her look at me, then think about her drawing, then look up at me again, as she did drawing me. At one point, she got up from the drawing so she could walk over and observe me up close, and I almost laughed aloud, she was concentrating so hard.
I really enjoy my kids’ observation of the world. They seem so different from each other in the way they look at things, and the things they choose to focus on. The Bee is often stuck on the man-made world–especially when it’s covered with print. The Potato, in his early reading state, is more likely to enjoy the natural world. Yesterday, when the Potato and I were driving to daycare, we passed the river near our house, and he said, “the river looks cute today, Mommy.” (We’re in a big ‘cute’ phase, when it comes to the Potato, everything is cute.)
Bumblebee Sweet Potato 