Getting SO Big!

For the full archive of Molly Eating pics...

Andrew Art 1

I need some art experts and those of you with a command of child development to take a look at these two pictures. They were both drawn by Andrew (Age 5 1/2) and are quite typical of his drawings. The top one is Dumbo. Two ears flank the head (with trunk) and a hat floats on top. The bottom drawing is a pumpkin. It was drawn in sections from left to right and then the stem in the middle was added. The spiraling horizontal pattern is Andrew coloring the complete pumpkin orange. What I would love some insight into is the fact that when Andrew draws, he builds his compositions from seperate parts and nothing ever touches. His pumpkin isn't a round object with stripes, but strips of orange which have a kind of round shape when together. Dumbo is the same. Ears, head, hat all seperate.

There is an artist by the name of David Hockney who does some fascinating colage like art. Often photographing a scene many times and piling the photos up to represent the feel of the scene, but without any of the connection we are used to seeing. I have linked to a piece of his of a chess match. Here is an old woman. Here is a chair. A Man. and a Tree.
Many autistic adults have compared the photomontages of David Hockney with the way in which they see the world. Tiny slices of data stitched together in a way which only sort of represented the actual subject of comprehension. One autistic artist consistantly drew people with eyes that look straight out of the canvas and mouths on the sides of their heads. The reason was that he coldn't see the mouth and the eyes at the same time. To view a face required several snap shots which had to be merged in the brain later. A person looking at you one moment would be looking away when the mouth was viewed a moment later so as to appear that the mouth was on the side of the head.
The question that I have is this: do the art and development folks out there think that Andrew's drawings of things as seperate and non connected components look to you like he is unable to view the whole of a scene in order to draw it correctly? Or, does his artwork look like the drawings of a five and a half year old who doesn't care about realism and is having a lot of fun with a pencil or crayon? Thoughts? Thanks.

Guitars in Church

There seems to have been this period before I was ever aware of such things where guitars were considered instruments of the devil and so weren't allowed in church. I'm glad that era is passed and a gutar is just another instruement in the band. This is a video clip from the 1940s. It shows sister Sister Rosetta Tharpe who was one of the earliest pioneers of real rock and roll. Ironically, she influenced a whole generation of musicians (Bob Dylan brought her back into the spotlight most recently) who went and gave the guitar it's so called demonic reputation. Weird how stuff starts in one place and goes full circle. I also wanted to share it with you because she just plain rocks!

From the Archive

Here's an old one. Noah and Elaina from three and a half years ago. As I sort through my archives (over 15,000 shots right now), I will post some from the years. It's so cool having photo albums from the kids' lives right on the hard drive. (And for those of you who are wondering about keeping that kind of record on something as potentially faulty as a hard drive, they are all backed up on DVD-R's and kept at my work in case something nasty happens to my computer.)

A trip to the pool

Just a quick 4 hours at the newly opened pool. Look at those wrinkled feet!

Andrew went from walking very gently through the shallow end yesterday to floating all over the pool. Here he is with his floating assistance pulling his feet up as he learned a valuable lesson in buoyancy.

After several hours, mom joined us, but forgot her suit. Which since we were the only ones at the pool and it was incredibly hot, didn't seem to matter as Elaina pushed her into the pool. Here she is still dry...

Thing #241 not to let your child do

I turned around to refill a dish for Noah and (in less than 20 seconds) Molly was around the table, had climbed onto the wooden kitchen chair and had was gnawing on Elaina's discarded chicken leg! Needless to say, she wasn't allowed more than a few seconds lest she cause herself serious harm. Luckily, she is enough of a ham that no gnawing took place during the taking of this picture. And, (for the lawyers) no children were harmed in the taking of this or any other picture.

New photos

My usual posting technique is ofline for the moment, but there are new galleries of a spaghetti covered child and a fun afternoon swimming off the dock.

On the Dock

Aug 1, 2006 - 14 Photos

Spaghetti

Aug 5, 2006 - 5 Photos

Blogging Pause and Silliness

Hi there.

Sorry it's been so long since the last update. And this really doesn't count as it won't contain any real news (if that's what you come her for). But, I have new respect for the news media. A little at least. And, it comes with the following observation:
When you are the primary reporter of your life, you are always faced with a choice, do I document what's going on in order to share it, or do I live in the moment and let the record keeping fall to the wayside. So, let's hear it for all those journalists who have given up living in order to keep records.
Anyway, lots has been happening, too much to write, but I will have a post tomorrow morning with some pics from a family adventure yesterday.


While you wait, buy a gallon of milk. No really, go on. But, before you purchase it, you should read what almost 500(!) customers have said about this delicious gallon of whole milky goodness. A few samples:
"After drinking this milk, I could fight Chuck Norris and win!"
"Unfortunately, after a terrible night's sleep, I have concluded that this product is not suitable for use as a pillow."
"I drank the entire 128 fl oz in one gulp, and for the next 43 minutes and twelve seconds I could divide by zero. The taste is okay, but what makes it worth the shipping is the ability it confers: the ability to defy the laws of mathematics with impunity."
"Horrible service, I bought my milk and went with the 7-9 day super saver shipping method and it arrived warm and curdled. "