Friday, November 16, 2007

Cut it out, Natalie!


Caption: Natalie, with scissors, and Kara on Friday morning.

Theo likes to draw pictures. Whenever he sees something interesting or exciting in the great wide world, his hands soon begin to itch, and his thoughts turn quickly to the idea of reproducing the scene with pencil and paper. If his muse appears away from home, he will often ask to return to his dining room table, where he can strike while the iron is hot.

His pictures have won the praise of his parents, his relatives, friends of his parents, even professional art directors in New York City.

Natalie is a bird of a different feather. She, too, likes to produce little works of art while sitting at the dining room table with her “Kuya” – the Filipino term for older brother. But where Theo likes to draw, Natalie likes to cut.

“I want to cut,” she says to her mother, several times during the day. Margie grabs a few sheets of paper and hands them over to Natalie along with little pairs of safety scissors. Natalie knows what to do with them. She’ll cut lines and shapes and circles. This morning she used a special pair of zig-zag scissors to make a remarkable shape.

“She’s very good at cutting,” says Margie. “Most children her age can’t do that.” I don’t know if the matter has been studied by scientists of early childhood education, but looking at the intricate shapes and tiny slivers of scraps that pile up on our dining room table and carpet, I am inclined to believe that Natalie is indeed a prodigy in this area.

# # # Thanksgiving Day Arts & Crafts Supplement # # #

At Miss Margie's Day Care, Theo made a Thanksgiving Wreath out of a paper plate. The wreath carried this heartwarming message: “I’m thankful for the whole world!”