But It's Art... and you can't punish art!

Austin and I are ones who have an interest in the arts--whether it's musical, dramatical, or graphical (not the obscene graphic)... among others, we just appreciate art.  I guess given this interest, it's natural for our kids to explore their own artistic interests.  I definitely think it's in the genes, and after today, I'm reminded that Gage is certainly exploring his artistic capabilities.

At Easter time he was sitting at the dinner table, waiting on everyone, and grating his fork back and forth across his plate.  His Aunt Courtney, who herself is a musician and artist, asked him to please stop making that noise.  His reply was, "But it's music,  not noise."  Unable to disagree with him on that one, she just had to muffle her chuckle and convince him to stop anyway.

Then today... I was in the living room feeding Leila and talking to Austin, who was sitting pretty closely to Gage but had his back turned to him.  Austin had just given him a huge bowl of cherries to eat (the fresh kind... the ones father and son love to death) so I didn't think too much of the eerie quiet coming (or maybe not coming) from his direction.  Once I could, I got up for my 3rd cup of coffee and walked into this:

"Mommy, this is for youuuuuuuu," Gage says enthusiastically, "It's a picture for youuuuuuu!"  Keep in mind, we just remodeled from top to bottom our kitchen.  To me, it's still brand-spanking new in here... it's even missing decor, until today.  Gage did the work for me:  can I say Black Crayola, anyone?  Austin had to leave the room so he could let out his laughter.  I... I just had to give him a big, warm "thank you, Gage, it's beautiful.... but remember, we color on paper, not on walls."  Not surprisingly, Gage's staple reply "What happened?" came next and together we got to learn all about Magic Erasers.