Art for art's sake

Dori had a wonderful time at the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) last week. When we walked in there were lots of kids painting, drawing, making crafts and sculpting. Firstly, Dori wanted to make a design using felt-tip pens and ink stamps.

The teacher shows Dori how to use the pen.

Normally, I'd praise him for eating his greens.

After half an hour of very careful drawing and stamping he made a lovely scroll to send to Nana. I helped him get enough ink on the stamps, but Dori chose which stamps to use and where they should go.

He enjoyed it so much, he wanted to do another.

Next was painting. Let's start with some bold, red lines.

Add some more colours, then have fun with a roller.

Dori repeated the names of the colours as I said them to him. Since then, he has been able to show me red, blue, green and yellow when asked.

The finished piece, to be framed and hung in his room:

Unfortunately, true art has no boundries.
Here's Dor the very next day...

At the wheel

The see food diet.

This morning Dori ate:

1 large bowl of porridge;

1 pear;

1 banana;

1 peanut butter and jelly sandwich;

1/2 dozen grapes;

1 dozen blueberries;

1 strawberry;

1 cracker;

1 stick of Mozzerella cheese;

3 slices of Cheddar cheese;

1 handful of sand from the beach.

He's not a hungry little caterpillar anymore!

Busy, busy, busy.

Life has been hectic for Dorian recently...

Hanging out with friends.

Finding a place to nap.

Taking a spot of lunch...

...can also make you sleepy!

A quick joke with Grandpa...

...then, back to bed!

Sitting around in the sun...

...can really be a drain on the energy.

Maybe all the sleep training has gone too far!

A New Morning (one that doesn't start at 4:30AM)

So, Dori has grown up a lot recently. He says 'pee-pee' or 'poo-poo' when...well, you know when... and successfully uses his potty (if we get there in time). He says new words every day and sings along to Twinkle Twinkle and Old MacDonald with vigor. And he sleeps! 12 hours, in his own bed and with no crying. Real sleep! I wish I knew what prompted the change. What if he reverts to sleeplessness? Not sure I want to be back on square one. I won't complain though; he wakes up in a good mood and so do we. Maybe it's food? He has been eating well recently. Here he is helping to make cookies:

'That looks good'

'Anyone looking?'

'Just a spoonful'

I managed to save some mixture.

'let's see'

'not sure, let's get a second opinion'.

Maybe the change is from being so active?

He's been horseriding;

practicing scales;

rehearsing his country-rock duo;

working on his fine motor skills, stacking creamer, and making a mess -all at the same time;

swimming lengths in the lake;

and deliberately moving sand from one random place to another...over and over again.

Maybe it's love? he did just discover girls:

Whatever it is, he's so happy to be finally sleeping, he can't even pass a bed without taking a lie down.

Our Ikea trip took an hour longer than it should have. Dori had to try every single bed.