Mike, Jill, Lucy, & Wubie!

One of the things we like to do with Lucy is make up stories. Not a day goes by where Jill isn’t improvising a tale for Lucy, and just about all of the stories are based on Lucy’s ideas. “Tell me a story about…Wubie’s food bowl on the ceiling!” Lucy will say, and Jill will dutifully start telling the story.

Another thing we like to do is illustrate Lucy’s ideas. We’ll gather in front of Lucy’s easel and she’ll start shouting out ideas like “We’re at the beach!” or “Wubert is in trouble with bumblebees!” As she does this, we’ll scribble frantically with crayons, hopelessly trying to keep up with our little girl’s imagination. Almost all of Lucy’s stories star Wubert, who usually plays multiple roles in each story. He’s also usually in some type of trouble.

Here’s one of Lucy’s stories…

“Doo is having a picnic at the beach with Wubert. They have a bucket and a shovel. They have cake. Wubert goes in the water (there are fish!) and Doo has to save him. Wubert’s sleeping. I’m tickling Wubert. I am walking with Wubert on a hill. I’m first. It’s really sunny, and there’s cake.”

Auntie’s birthday was this week, and Lucy and I had a little party with her on the day (bigger party to come.)

We painted plates, had cake, and played in the garden. It was a lovely day.

Oh, and Lucy sang her the birthday song. Happy Birthday Auntie!

Lucy is fond of drawing and coloring, often with crayons, especially with pens (when she can grab them), and naturally on non-approved surfaces (i.e. chairs, tables, walls…)
Now that she is out of the ‘put everything in your mouth’ stage, we figured she was ready to try other media. So this week we got her some non-toxic (and washable) paints and newspapered the room, and let her at it!

Here are some examples of Lucy’s first stab at painting. She LOVED it. She is asking even now (in her sleep!) to paint. I think we may move on to watercolors next, and after that, maybe making some egg-carton caterpillars with auntie…the sky’s the limit.

p.s. the artist is quoted as saying that most of these paintings are of ‘Kipper‘ or his nose or ears.