Our Little Artist

**BEEP BEEP** We interrupt our regularly scheduled program for this special announcement.

*Warning - Bragging Parent Post Ahead*

So you have been warned. Since Patrick was almost 3 he has had a VERY imaginative nature. He had imaginary friends (remember Twardin and his girlfriend Patton - they have left but have been replaced by his brother, whose name is Shelton, and works...though we have not seen any financial assistance from this 'working' brother.) We were told by his pediatrician that he would most likely be creative/artistic than technical and that studies show that kids like him are above average.

Now fast forward to this fall. Patrick started PreK3 at a school that uses the Handwriting Without Tears program. (for more information on this teaching technique click here). The first thing that children are taught is how to build Mat Man. The overall concept is that you 'build' letters using big curves (two big curves make his head); small curves (small curves make his ears); big lines (his arms and legs); and little lines (his feet). The class 'builds' Mat Man using wooden blocks that are big/small curves and big/small lines. Eventually the children 'learn' to draw Mat Man while listening to the Mat Man song:

Mat Man has one head, one head, one head
Mat Man has one head so that he can think.
Mat Man has two ears, two ears
Mat Man has two ears so that he can see.
And so on.

You can click here to see a teacher 'build' Mat Man and sing the song...

He draws this while the teacher plays the song in the background. It is really cool seeing these little ones draw as the song plays. Here is Patrick's Mat Man drawing from yesterday.
I would say he does have an artistic gift. I think he did really well considering he is under 4 and well because I am his mom! So please enjoy one of the latest artistic renditions of Mat Man!

O.K. we will now go back to our regularly schedule program.