first, carter can swim. not very far, but he does it--he just launches himself in the water a la ironman starters and swims about 7 feet underwater, pops up, turns around, and does it again. he is SO PROUD of himself. he has been doing this for a while now. pretty cool.
he suddenly LOVES painting. he liked it before, one could even say loved it, but his enthusiasm wore off after a while, and it was just about the visual-tactile experience. at some point he discovered representation, and now he is so empowered by the ability to draw/paint a picture of SOMETHING. of course, one always has to ask him in a gentle way as to its identity -- i like "tell me about this picture..." -- the other proud moment was when he realized he actually could learn how to write letters. i think he assumed this was something only big people could do. he doesn't like to do it that much, but when he succeeds, he is very vocal about it.
today, ava had 2 friends from soccer over and they all wanted to paint, and carter joined them very enthusiastically, and did a very complicated and very intense rendering of what he ultimately called "windows." for her part, ava managed to churn out about 8 very interesting, balanced abstract compositions that were done with such seriousness i could not disturb her. afterwards, she said "i just SEE the picture in my head first, and then i paint it..."
it's weird. she has always liked art, but never approached it like other kids. some kids seem to have a natural talent for drawing and representation, which she does not have -- basically, in that regard, she is pretty much like any other 5 year old. but she has this intense need for everything to be composed just so.
as for the above mentioned playdate, holy cow. what an intense couple of hours. first, the 2 girls were older than ava--1 and 2 years--and second, carter was personna non grata among them. i could see that ava was struggling with this--go with the girls and exclude him, or go with her gut and include him--and so i stepped in and removed him by offering to let him wash the dishes. additionally, i learned a very valuable lesson: do not offer choices when you have more than 2 children to feed. choices are a good thing, generally, but not with a crowd. in that situation, you become a restaurant.
soccer camp is officially over, and we weathered it better this time. which bodes well for school. while ava was at soccer, carter and i explored the woods and fields behind the fields, and stumbled upon the biggest berry patch i have ever seen. we managed to fill a container in a half hour--or rather I managed to do so. when in the woods, carter is full of adventurous narration, telling me about the wild animals (wild chipmunks!) that he is going to take care of, and sea serpents ("wait...i have a field jounal here in my rescue pack, let me see what it says...") and otherr various foes. he has pop guns and fire guns and bows and arrows, a space helmet, shoulder pads, gloves, elbow pads, special jackets, and boots. of course, i need to don these items too, so we look like a troup of insane mimes hiking through the forest. it is so different from being with ava. she was far more interested in the flora and fauna, and her literal surroundings. with him, it is one big imaginative adventure.
fortunately, both of them have given up on insisting that they are diego and alicia--the phase seems to have passed. thank god.
carter has of course managed to fall in live with another few girls too. the vehemence with which he surrenders all of his emotions to these girls is almost frightening.
