The Accidental Artist

As Finley prepares to enter the public school domain, the same one that I have spent over a decade working in, I sometimes wonder if he's ready.  He's great at making friends, connecting with adults, listening, counting, building, playing sports, rhyming, loves books, etc but his drawing/writing skills have always been a step behind all of that other stuff -- mostly due to the fact that he just wasn't into it.

About six months ago, his penmanship was much improved and he was able to write his name, our names and Dagny's with greater ease.  However, his drawings were limited to police vehicles and pirate ships (that were always drawn in the same way with nearly identical results).  He'd ask for us to show him how to draw things at times and we'd practice together, but his willingness to just try/make it work was not there.  Ah, boys will be boys, you say, and there's some merit to that phrase -- but today he shocked me as he initiated some drawing time and created an awesome picture for Dan (who is up in Maine playing frisbee this weekend).  He began by saying he wanted to make a frisbee field and drew two people holding frisbees (Dan is #11 and an opposing player is #10).  Then, he drew a cone and asked me how many cones are on the field and after I said, 8, he got to work.  He added grass, hair, and green cleats plus a clock with ten minutes left on it.  Since Dan's team is Big Wrench, he asked me to draw a wrench on a scrap piece of paper for him to copy. The final touch was a happy sun and his name with Dan's.

Looking at this made me realize it looks like the drawings my classroom kiddos do at school in the fall and I was hit with a wave of relief -- he's really ready for kindergarten in every way, not due to his emerging art skills, but because he's willing to try new things and he truly believes in himself and his abilities.

We emailed a photo to Dan and he told Finley he can't wait to put it up at his office!