I gave Finn foods of four different colors, thinking
it was a primer to crayon art that he will do when he's
older. Hmm...it was just a primer to a serious bath.
stainless steel dish reflection shot
Sick, teething, and achy from vaccines. We
had a solid month of illness. I hope this spring
will bring better health for the two of us.
But a brand new, fresh canvas 18x20" can run anywhere from $15 to $30. Add in paint and brushes, and it's quite an expense, so I've found a few tricks to save a few pennies.
First of all -- use the paint you've got.
True story: I took Painting 101 my freshman year in college with an art prof who had been chair of the department for about 30 years. In my class was an older, non-traditional student who was well into her 40's, had a family, and was going to school for the first time. She bought some paints for the class -- not many -- and used only those paints until the end of the term because she was trying to get by on a budget. Her paintings were incredible. My art prof said he had never seen anyone use color like that in his 30 years of teaching. At the time, because I was 19 and knew everything, I didn't think they were that great -- but now I see the beauty of it. And they were great.
I wish I had a picture to show you.
But anyhow, on to trick number two:
Buy old, crappy canvases from Goodwill, then repaint them!
Hello, Gorgeous.
At $1.99, yes, I'll take it!
A la Bob Ross's happy clouds. I'll hang this in
our bedroom soon and post a picture of it on the wall.
It's very modern and not my usual style, but I it makes me
happy the way clouds do.
Last week, we decided to bundle up in this cold (er, not-so-cold) weather and go for a walk. At the halfway mark, not quite sure how, but there we were, deciding that this was a badass walk, which required the badass photo stance.
Finley couldn't quite get the stance down while he was tied up in a baby sling, but he rallied with a fierce smile under the monkey hat.
And other moments from the past few weeks have been pretty wonderful, too.
Mmm...mango shake love.
The piano's finest scale.
This photo was taken by a friend, Molly, whose daughter
wears tutus and might rule the world some day.
Well, not truly walking solo -- yet -- but walking with his truck. He actually started doing this at 8 months, but he's pretty much perfected the "assisted" walk at this point. This video is from a few weeks ago.
He hasn't shown any more inclination to walk on his own yet, which is just fine by us. He gets around plenty quick enough as it is!
On January 11th, I posted on Facebook that Finley had officially spoken his first word: "blue" (pronounced "boo").
A fairly lively comment thread followed:
Let me respond to a few folks:
@Cousin Paul: Finley and "Blue" Ivy Carter are officially betrothed, but we're trying to keep it a secret from TMZ to avoid the paparazzi.
@Robert Gordon: Yes, "boo" does mean "baby" in certain circles. Among linguists, it's generally referred to AAVE, not Ebonics. On another note, aren't all rappers self-referential?
@Terry Hanzel: "Kind of Blue" -- I can only hope Finn's music tastes are so refined.
@Co-workers Carmella & David: I'm truly sorry. I tried to start with Green and White. I really did. See?
Finley, admiring an original colored pencil drawing
given to him by his Grandpa Louis Solomon.
Finally, @Mom: You asked for context. Why, you may ask, would Finley's first word be "blue"?
Well, a few weeks ago Finley became absolutely obsessed with a specific group of Christmas decorations put up in our living room. There are about a half-dozen blue items: vases, blown glass ornaments, etc. Whenever Finley saw them he would use body language to indicate that he wanted to be shown them, and we'd always say, "Do you want to see the blue things?" Before long, he started asking to see them by saying, "Boooooo! Booooo!"
We actually had a little ritual going: some he could only look at, but certain pieces we'd let him he'd touch with his finger, and others he'd shove into his mouth. His favorite "boo" thing was a lovely vase (made by my cousin Eric Kaufmann) because we would regularly try the Chad Goertz Test of Good Pottery* on it:
*The Chad Goertz Test of Good Pottery: if you voice weird noises into a piece of pottery and it sounds cool, then it's a good piece of pottery. Incidentally, Eric's vase passes with flying colors. (Chad Goertz was my closest high school pal and college roommate.)
