P, A and me had a small holiday on our own last April. We went to Gurgaon to their Bua’s and then Agra to another Bua’s. Yeah i know…. it’s not the best season to travel north. But we had holidays at that time and it was just like ….. let’s just go or it’s never happening. While on the trip I encouraged P to maintain a travel diary. I actually wanted her to write what she is doing everyday. Just a small account of it in her own words. But instead she came up with the fabulous idea of sketching! So everyday she drew one highlight of the day in her own little notebook. I must say I was impressed by what she had come up with. Initially she kept saying tell me what to do but I kept telling her just think. I questioned her…. what did we do today? What was the best thing you liked about today? And she got the hang of it in a couple of days. I came across the book today and while I went through it, I was like wow! This is so amazing. I can encourage her to do this every trip we go and she will be collecting some lovely memories through her drawings…..AND she will pick up the habit of expressing her thoughts in her drawings. 

Talking about creativity….. my little A also comes up with her own ideas. In her little Duplo set she has some flowers. She uses them and square blocks and makes flower gifts for everyone. She makes a few and then distributes it among all the family members. I love the way she sets up her soft toys in the playroom and feeds them food which she has cooked in her little kitchen. 

Well…. maybe these are common things for all kids. But the pride you feel when your child is able to do something like this is just too good. All kids have a creative spark in them. It all depends how much encouragement they get and how much exposure we give them to tap their creativity. There was one art teacher P used to go to who exposed her to many artists from around the world and each one’s style of painting. She was really doing well and it was amazing to see the works of art she was bringing home. Art teacher had a baby herself so no class happening. I feel at this age I must not push her for technique. That can be taught when she is older or maybe she doesn’t need to! But I strongly feel I need to enhance her creativity right now so that that part of her brain develops. So that she comes up with her own ideas and uses them. 

I have mentioned before that P loves to do her own play. She needs her space and time to herself. That’s when she’s happy. She made a very sweet card for us on our anniversary…… sitting in the jw Marriott coffee shop. She had carried paper, colours, glue and god knows what not. And while we had dinner…. she made us this card. It wasn’t exactly a card. I think collage will be the right word. It had little booklets and little tags.  Unfortunately we misplaced it in bringing the sleeping kids home 😔 I have a pic of it though.