Be Still My Heart

 It is late and I should be going to bed since I have to be up early tomorrow for church, but this couldn't wait. Elliot, my beautiful, almost 5 year old son and first born child, has been asking to craft with me all week and I will admit that I've been putting him off. I feel bad, but every time he asks, I'm in the middle of mine and needing to start dinner. I have been telling him maybe after dinner, but then my husband has been getting home late and there's no one to help me keep my younger girls out of the craft supplies. FYI, ink, glitter, glue and scissors don't ever mix well with new living room furniture when you have a 20 month old running around. Anyway, my poor Elliot just came down with a nasty cold and was feeling awful after dinner, running a low grade fever. We were eating BBQ outside on the back patio and he was just freezing so my husband decided he would build an outdoor fire in our backyard chiminea. However, for some reason Elliot yelled out, no mommy, I want to craft. Can I craft with you?! So sweet! I wasn't even planning on crafting, but how could I resist? Despite feeling horrible, he insisted on crafting instead of resting, so after a dose of Ibuprofen and cold and allergy medicine, we began our crafting. I have been making paper bag albums and so he has been requesting a paper bag, glue stick, scissors, paper punches and ink. He loves the butterfly punch and uses that often. He says he's making an album. So cute! I had some bottle caps laying around and grabbed those and asked if he could use them. Such vision! I said, of course! This is what he made. I had to share.

The only thing I helped him do was punch out the 1" circles to fit inside the bottle caps, but he told me where on the paper he wanted me to punch. He also, on his own, has started drawing flight paths behind his butterflies. It's amazing what kids pick up or what their imagination or creativity creates. Elliot really is a creative child. He is quite the artist. I didn't really even look at his creation since my husband and I were trying to whisk him off to bed. He kept stalling, adding to his creation even though we told him it was time for bed. I talked to him tonight about layering. I gave him a few sheets of patterned and solid cardstock. He cut everything on his own and punched the butterflies too. He was feeling a little stumped on where he was going to place his last piece of cut paper since he was running out room. This is when I told him about overlapping and layering. You can see his use of layering above in picture 3 with the 2 squares of cardstock and the smile stamp overlay (I love his smiley face sunshine). I was so engrossed in my own craft project, complimenting him along the way, but it wasn't until I really looked at it in the kitchen that my heart overflowed with a great admiration and deep appreciation for my son. What a beautiful, talented and creative soul. I had to share!

Spend time with your kids. They want to be with you. They want to be like you. Our time with them is precious!