Monday, October 29, 2012

Creating Wonder

Creative people are curious, flexible, persistent, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play.
~Henri Matisse~

I'm sure it's true of all parents, but there are so many days when I just sit and marvel at Wonder Boy and I revel in the Wonder that is our Boy. To see his mind at work, to try to see the world through his lens ... it sends shivers down my spine.

Wonder Boy is a creative force! And it is something that I greatly admire about him. It started from an early age. He sees the world in a different light than I do. And rather than frustrate me, it inspires me (mostly). When he was tiny, we could see it in his play. Watching him put together a puzzle one day, I realized he wasn't matching up the pieces by color (like I naturally do) but rather by the physical shape of each individual piece. As he grew, you could hear it in the rhythm of his speech. Even after years of speech therapy, he has his own way of getting his point across. And today, as he is firmly stepping into his adolescence, you can see it in the way he learns, the manner in which he simply absorbs new skills.

Wonder Boy goes through phases of creative explosions. Usually we will see these explosions when he is picking up something new. This summer, you might recall, he got all fired up when he learned how to make paracord bracelets. He made them for all of his friends and Wonder Dad and I both sport several each as well! A few years back he studied up on balloon twisting and for months each visitor to the house left with a souvenir.

Right now though, he seems to be taking it to a new level! There is music in the house thanks to his viola. He looks forward to his practice time. In fact, he enjoys it so much, we have to make sure he has all of his other homework done before we let him begin or he loses track of time and can get behind in his academics before he realizes it. He's also revisiting his love of Origami. Like a lot of kids, he loves making paper air planes, but simple planes were not enough. So he found books, websites, and on-line videos to help him kick it up a level. Now we're finding everything from animals to ornaments to more planes than you can shake a stick at around the house.


And if this were not enough, as we edge closer to all of the fall holidays, there are more opportunities for a creative kid to make his mark.

This week we have been working on our Day of the Dead sugar skulls. The whole family has joined in the fun molding and decorating our confectionery creations. We also worked on getting our Halloween decorations up. And after a trip to the hobby supply store, we are dreaming of all the creative fun that Thanksgiving and Christmas will bring as well!

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