Little Artist

Elliot has a wonderful sitter in the afternoons.  She comes to our home and they sing and dance and play and draw and who knows what else.  She's pure merry-making.  I love when I come home to a project she and Elliot have started, like this piece of cardboard that was spread out in the kitchen with some drawings and a pile of markers.  Just the right amount of inspiration for Elliot and I to pick up where they left off.  We spent a long part of our afternoon today adding animals and names and doodles.  Elliot has totally surprised us by saying, with almost complete accuracy, the names of 6 colors--blue, yellow, green, red, pink, and grey.  We didn't "teach" him those.  We are not at all interested in making sure he knows things like the names of colors and the alphabet.  I'm much more focused on making sure he's a kind and gentle friend to himself and others.  The whole colors and letters thing will come later.  That doesn't worry me.  So you can imagine how surprised we were when he just started pointing out and labeling the colors of things.  The other day he pointed to the ground that had just been rained on and said, "gray."  Then pointed to the big painted handicap sign on the parking spot next to us and said, "blue."  And today, with this pile of markers, he picked up the red in one hand and the green in the other and told me the color of both.  With no prompting.  All on his own!  I am amazed every day that this little one is only a year and a half old.  He's learned so much.