Thursday, September 23, 2010

The Fine Art of the Love Note - or - The Making of a Monster

It started simply enough. A quickly scribbled note tucked into Buddy Boy's snack pack.  It was his first day of kindergarten.  Mine too, for that matter.  He was a little freaked out.  Me too, actually.  Writing the note made me feel a little better, and I hoped it would make him smile when he found it.

It did the trick.  When I picked him up at the end of the day he smiled & whispered to me, "I found your note Mommy."  And my heart exploded.  So, I decided to do it again the next day.  This one was a little fancier - a quick picture of our big orange kitty, Willie.  Then it was a picture of our teeny tiny old lady cat, Slinky.  Next up, Buddy Boy on a skateboard, followed by a Pittsburgh Steelers helmet.  A sketch a day for the first week of school. 

I know.  You're in total awe of me now, aren't you.  Because I'm such an incredible mom.  So creative. So in love with her kid.  Doing such wonderful little things to make him feel loved & secure.  You wish you'd had a great idea like this.  You wish you were an awesome mom like me. 

That or else you're saying to yourself, "Oh what a stupid, stupid girl!  What a colossal rookie mistake.  She's really dug herself in deep.  Boy-oh-boy does it suck to be her!"

Now I'll admit, I'm a creative person.  I've got a BA in fine art to prove it.  But let me tell you what I'm not.  I am NOT a sketch artist.  I am NOT a cartoonist.  I can not draw for $#!+.  I can push paint around pretty well, but do not expect me to do anything amazing with a pencil or a marker.  And definitely don't get any bright ideas about being my partner for Pictionary. 


These little notes have turned into the bane of my existence!  I love my kid, but a line has got to be drawn -- and I'm NOT the gal to draw it. 

~sigh~

So, every night now, instead of catching up with my reader or blogging, I slave over a 4" square piece of paper trying to come up with something that...well...looks like something.  He wants one every day for the whole school year!  All I wanted to do was write a little love note, but it seems I've created quite a monster.

5 comments:

Perfectly Paper said...

Soooo cute! You're such a good mommie. Like you said, you're a bit screwed for the rest of the year, but I'm sure you can safely say you're the only parent that does this at your kids school. Best of luck on your drawings - gonna have to get creative! :)

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness could these be any cuter??? Denise you're doing a great job! You have, indeed, screwed yourself for the rest of the year. Ü Compared to me, you are doing a fabulous job. I can't remotely draw that well. If you save all these, you will both cherish them one day. Ü

T@PoppyPlacePdx said...

On the downside you are screwed!!!! but your work is awesome and you are making a bond with your son that will last forever 'coz you have the proof :)

On the upside you could turn this into a book for other parents, a kind of tear out a page a day thing and they would thank you soo much for being so creative.

Have a lovely day, cheers, T. :)

Alyssa S. said...

How sweet! See I count myself as creative and yet I never even thought of doing that for Amelia. I may have to pirate your idea!

Sara said...

Hahahaha... This is just kindergarten. It'll be at least two more years until he's too old to want this... And is your second child younger? HAHAHA. AWESOME.

Maybe you should take a trip to a party store for fancy napkins and save the hand drawn ones for special days. Or start drawing your daughters napkins now.

HAHAHAHA. Ok, I'm done.