Art

Jack and I do a lot of outside activities, either football or baseball or whatnot. Kate plays occasionally, but it isn't her first choice. Today, with Jack going to swim practice, I tried to figure out what I could do with just Kate that she would enjoy. And then I remembered she had been drawing pictures from the Hand Art book last week, so I suggested that. And her eyes lit up and she nodded vigorously.

The Hand Art book enables you to make all kinds of animals whose heads or bodies start out by tracing your hand. A bat is made with two hands. And a butterfly, and... You get the idea. And it is hard for Kate to trace her own hand, so we did them together.

"You're a good tracer, Daddy," she said admiringly, as I traced her hand. Well, thank you, Katie.

We made elephants, dogs, bats, and giraffes. I made her a kitty that she loved. I know this because when I finished it and gave it to her, she said, " I LOVE it." Then we made pictures for everyone else. I made an elephant for Jack. When he saw it he looked at it for a minute, smiled, and said "Thank you." Very sincere. It was nice.

Saying goodnight to Kate, I said, it was fun making hand art with you, Kate. And it really was.