Girls and Free Time

Sophie was in distress this afternoon when she couldn't find her How to Draw Animals book. She had gotten it off the shelf and couldn't remember where she had left it. This book along with her sketch book are often busy together.  When she doesn't have anything pressing to do this is usually what she chooses to do with her spare time.

Today, after she found the book, she spent a good amount of time laying on the floor drawing and drawing while I was reading my book, Molly napped, and the boys played outside. She goes outside to play a lot but evidently today she had something in mind that she wanted to do and luckily the other kids were out of the way so she could accomplish it.

Henry got a new Webkinz pet for his Birthday.  When I saw it I thought it was a duck bill platypus but Sophie said it was called a google and was a duck of some kind. So today she dug out her animal encyclopedia (She keeps it by her bed for a little late night reading) and looked up platypus. She went to work drawing, labeling and writing about a platypus in her sketchbook.

When she was finished she spent a lot of time telling me all about what she learned. I knew they were mammals but laid eggs. She told me all about these very different mammals.

I love it when she learns new things just because she loves learning and not just because I tell her to do it. This was completely unprompted and at her whim.  Her drawings are getting really good too.

This is what Molly does with her time.

She loves to play with my pots, pans, and bowls that are in one of the lower cabinets. I feel like I am always putting my bowls back where they belong. She has been exploring other cabinets lately to see what fun things they hold. This was a particularly good day because I was distracted making bread.  She got her hands into the forbidden cabinet where the flour, sugar and other baking supplies call home. Good thing the flour bucket was almost empty or else I would have had a much bigger mess to deal with.