Eric Carle

While we have been busy with Blaine and baseball, Aislin has been busy with her art. Over spring break I took a day to clean and organize all of her art materials. Here is our "formal" living room before:

Here is the after:

During spring break I signed her up for an art class. She painted the owl on canvas.

Since that class she has made multiple reproductions of that owl from memory. In school on Friday, or maybe Thursday, her class watched a video about Eric Carle. Aislin was probably the only child upset that the video messed up before it was finished and they had to go out to recess instead of finishing the video. Aislin now appears obsessed with him. She has been relaying details from the video to anyone who will listen. She woke up with a slight fever today and wasn't feeling well, so I decided to let her skip dance. After that she got right to work painting. It was a little messy. At one point she drop a page full of red paint on the counter and then the floor, leaving a big mess. When I complained Aislin calmly told me that her mess was nothing compared to the messes that Eric Carle made! She had been comparing herself to him all day long. "Eric Carle didn't plan his work before he started, but I do" she stated.

She ended up making a pretty creative caterpillar. It was for me to take to my work and hang there. Little did we know that morning how the rest of the day would unfold. After Blaine's game my friend Jackie sent a text to Robyn and me to see if we could get out for dinner. I told her Brent was working. She suggested a babysitter. Then Ben called to see if Blaine could have a sleep over. I was down to one kid. I decided yes, that would be nice, Aislin was begging to have someone come over and babysit her. In fact, the week before spring break she came to the car with a piece of paper with her favorite ASP teacher's phone number, she had solicited her own sitter and had been begging me to call Ms. Stephanie for days! I started going down the list. I called 5 sitters with no luck. I had finally given up. Robyn and Jackie decided that they still really wanted to get out, so they were going to get dinner then come by my house afterward with some cupcakes and a bottle of really fermented grape juice (or, for all but Nana reading this, wine).

My neighbor, Ben's mom called to tell me her friend knew of an 8th grader who could come over. I said, no thanks, I don't want to have someone new and that young come over. Anna kept trying to convince me to let this girl come over and her friend even volunteered to drive the 8th grader to my house. They were very convincing about this sitter. I finally decided that since I was only going to dinner nearby, and since Anna would be home next door, it would probably be okay. So without talking to this babysitter or her parents I said yes. I was desperate for a break. When Anna told me the girls name, the neighborhood she lived in and that she had a younger brother Blaine's age I began to connect the dots. I asked Anna if it was Brooke R. She asked her friend. Her friend said yes. I knew exactly who this girl was. I knew the whole family. Her brother and parents have been to our house multiple times. Her brother, in fact, is the child that Aislin has claimed as her boyfriend and insists she will marry him!

I tell you, this little community that we are now part of is a very small world. I called Brooke's mom to tell her that it was me that Brooke was coming to sit for. We both laughed and felt much more relieved. I was able to go out and have a nice stress free night after that while Aislin was jumping with joy that Davis's sister was coming to babysit her. It looked like the two of them had a great night. Brooke was highly entertained by Aislin and all her Eric Carle facts. Aislin even shared with me, Brooke and her mom that little essay she wrote about Eric Carle:

Brooke left a nice note for Aislin which I'm sure we will save for some time:

As Brooke and her mom were leaving Aislin handed them my hungry caterpillar picture and told them it was for Davis. She even wrote a note on it for him. "To: Davis. From: Aislin. You know I have a crush on you." So much for taking her art to my work. In the end I ended up having a great day (while Brent worked away). Game ball for Blaine, a nice dinner out with friends, a new sitter for Aislin, and I ended the night watching a chick flick. Brent got home a little after midnight with the good news that after Tuesday he should be finished with busy season!