Looking Up

Got my butt handed to me on a platter tonight while playing Scrabble with Amy. It’s been a long time since someone beat me at Scrabble. You know how, in Fight Club, Ed Norton’s teeth fell out from being hit but he kind of liked it because he was actually feeling things for the first time? I won’t say I’m as emotionally numb as Tyler Durden, but it felt pretty good to find someone who could stump me. Makes me want to work harder to win next time. I like it.

Robert had Guys’ Night tonight, so it was me, Amy and the kids. Harrison loves visitors and he loves Amy. It helps that she lets him climb all over her like a billy goat. (Him being the goat—not her!) He showed her his new ‘Ninjan Turtles’ and sang all the songs he’s been learning at school. In all, the kids were great and we all had a really good time.

Work is going pretty well, too. The kids have been working on their shoe sculptures and they’re looking really cool. This has been a real trial by fire for my kids and it’s been enlightening to see how they approached the project. Just from these two weeks of work, I can see who is going to be uninhibited in unleashing their creativity and who is going to need coaxing along. Even many of the coaxed kids are doing some pretty neat stuff with their sculptures, so it’s pretty much a win all around. I’m so excited for the kids—they’re going to be doing some super cool stuff this year and I feel like jumping right into the fray like this is going to make it easier when we settle down to the nuts and bolts of learning about art. At the very least, they will have already had one success under their belt with minimal ‘formal’ teaching, so they should have their confidence bolstered pretty well for when I start showing them specific techniques.

I see a good year coming up!

(And yeah, that’s corny as crap, but I just can’t help being optimistic this year. Must be the Anne of Green Gables books I’m re-reading that put me into a cup-beyond-half-full-such-that-it’s-overflowing breed of cheer.)