Kevin "Picasso" Fels

This past week, 2 things having to do with Little Man's artistic abilities have come about.....Even for his (always) busy mom, that's a post-worthy happening. On this gorgeous, sunny, tail end of the working week, I'd like to take this moment to appreciate and brag - as is a Mother's right! :-)
This school year, Kevin's school has had an 'art menu' with all kinds of activities. They have linked these activities to fundraising to support a Dutch based charity that helps children in 130 countries all over the world. One of these activities was an art action, and each student painted their own canvas. The proceeds of the sale went to the charity. (Dad bought Kevin's canvas to enjoy and show off).

After the art auction, each class chose one student's artwork to represent their class and be shown on a postcard. The set of postcards, with one image per class, is then given (6 sets per student) to sell to neighbors, relatives, people at work, etc.

I received my 6 sets of postcards this week to sell, and when I was looking through them, I found this and thought " I know that signature!":

And when I looked on the back of the card for the credit, there it was.....My Little Man - his artwork - on a postcard!

And then, this same week, while mom was still basking in the postcard glory (and selling the cards to his father, my mother, poor co-workers, etc).........he comes home with this drawing: :

And I knew what it was...no squinting, no 3 guesses, no 'you tell me what I'm going to guess it is'......I recognized it right away as his playmobil fire truck with extendible ladder and extra wheels and sirens and......it was awesome!

It's been a good week to be a mommy! I'm off now to enjoy the weekend, some 'mommy time' and to dream of a retirement funded by art sales and autograph signings :-)

April Milestones

Now that we’ve passed the 5th birthday milestone, mom was prepared that things might go a little quiet on the blogging front without much to report on that was new. I guess Kevin decided we couldn’t have that, and set about giving me something to write about – He can cycle on two wheels!

I should mention that while he’s pretty well on track ( I seem to remember the training wheels going off my Pink Schwinn somewhere between 5 &6) it’s felt like he’s behind the curve here in one of the cycling capitals of the world. It’s not uncommon here to see 3 & 4 year olds on 12 inch cycles without training wheels zipping along with their 5-foot safety flag waving alongside. Kevin had so far resisted any attempt to remove his training wheels for ‘practice’.

It reminded me very much of when we were trying to get him to walk……he went directly from crawling to running across the room. No tries, no stumbles…..He takes his time (practicing in his sleep?!) and just as we start to wonder…..he busts out a brand new capability like he’s been doing it forever.

He’s already able to cycle to the shops in the center of town, go to the recreational lake/forest area near his dad’s place….soon I’m sure he’ll be out-cycling mom, and be a true Dutchy cycling everywhere!

Here is a video from the end of the afternoon on that first day of cycling…this is near to dad’s house, and dad’s using his cameraphone….it might not be the best quality (and the proud papa Dutch commentary is an added bonus) but it’s clear to see how proud of this accomplishment he is……as are we!