Little faces

I just flew in from Pennsylvania, and man, are my arms tired!

Our 10-day visit with my son and his family is over and I enjoyed it. My granddaughters, Bella and Gabby, are 5 and 3 1/2 years respectively, full of energy, sparkling with brains and creativity. Proud Grandpa, eh? Sure am.

I took a picture of one of Bella's drawings because I like to look at kid artwork, and because I noticed she has a pretty good eye for drawing. Bella's pre-school teacher has told my son and his wife that Bella is smart, but I wanted my friend Peggy to look at the drawing. Peggy has been a teacher for about three decades. She's also raised two great kids who are now in college. I figure she could tell me what she saw in Bella's drawing:

"They claim you can tell a lot by a child's drawing, heads proportion to the body, smiling, flowers, sunshine. She's a great artist, and any psychologist would tell you she's very happy and secure with her life."

Well, friendship or not, I believe Peggy would tell me the truth no matter what. She also told me about another little artist:

"Years ago, I had a 5th grader draw a picture of him stabbing his sister. Needless to say I referred him for psych testing...he ended up at in [prison] high school ....weird and scary kid."

That kind of drawing sounds like what I did as a kid. But at least I never ended up in prison.

Bella, Gabby and my son, David, at the University of Pittsburgh.

Bella and little sister, Gabby, have the same kinds of growing pains as every kid, all of the frustrations with having big people tell you what to do all day, every day. But I appreciated the nurturing environment their parents provide for them. The coffee table in the living room is Bella and Gabby's play table, where they can spend hours with their crayons and markers releasing their creative energy. I got a picture of Bella when she didn't know I was looking, caught in the act of drawing.

Bella at the beginning of her artistic career. Mark down that you saw her when!