Ceci N’est Pas Un Soleil

Posted: March 21st, 2009 | Author: kristen from motherload | Filed under: Extended Family, Friends and Strangers, Miss Kate | 3 Comments »

We’re fresh off of a nearly two-week blitz of visits from Mark’s folks. Back-to-back visits, that is, as they don’t travel in the same circles any more, if you know what I mean.

It’s been fun mind you, but Mark leaves for Switzerland for work on Tuesday and I can’t help but feel jealous about his getting to be alone for 12 hours on a flight–forget all the Nordic delights that await him once he arrives.

But I know my karmic reward for staying home to mind the kids is whipping around the universe now, picking up fabulousness as it goes. I can’t wait to see what it’ll be.

At any rate, the other night as Mark’s dad and sister were here for dinner–a marvelous meal prepared by the best daughter-in-law I’m sure anyone could ever hope to have–I went to grab some wine glasses and commented on Kate’s paper plate artwork that’s hanging on our oh-so-Craftsman built-in china hutch.

This is the art in question:
For some reason, I felt the need to point out that this was a sun that Kate had made at school. Duh. (In case they were wondering whether it was the product of some housewife-grade art class I was taking?) And Kate was already in bed at the time, so she wasn’t available to expound on the piece herself.

The next morning as we ate breakfast the thing caught my eye and for some reason I decided to ask Kate about it since, truth be told, she’d never actually told me anything about what it was supposed to be, her inspiration, choice of media, use of glitter, etc. It was just one of those things that’s crammed in the cubby at preschool nearly every day, that you grab along with your kid’s lunchbox and some pee-drenched or fingerpaint-encrusted article of clothing.

Me: “That thing that you made at school, Kate. It’s a sun, right?”

Kate: “No.”

Me: “Oh, so what is it then?”

Now, I’m going to give the reader a moment to look back at the artwork and try to answer this question themselves. Take a minute or two now to really look at the piece and jot down your answers.

Okay, then. Pencils down.

What did you guess? Maybe that it’s an orange? An egg yolk? Perhaps even a kumquat?

Let’s return to our setting at the breakfast table to find out.

Kate: “It’s a… parking lot!”

Me: “A parking lot? For what?”

Kate: [exasperated] “For parking cars, Mama.”

Riiiiiiiiiiiight. I’m really not sure why I hadn’t seen that myself.

Yesterday, our friends Scot and Sheryl stopped in for a front porch drink on their way back from Santa Cruz. I don’t want to put on airs, but Sheryl, well, she’s an artist.  And she’s always great about hanging out with Miss Kate.

So at some point when I was maybe in the basement picking out another bottle of wine or something, Kate had apparently gotten her little green notebook and settled onto Sheryl’s lap to do some drawing. Or rather, have Sheryl do some command performance drawing for her.

By the time I walked back onto the porch Sheryl looked up at me and reported, “I asked Kate what we should draw and she said a musk ox.”

Oh sure. A musk ox! Right.

Far be it from me to attempt to even venture into the mind of the young artist. Best to just sit here on the sidelines and enjoy the show.

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