The lion sleeps tonight

Today, Gillian was coloring and John was using his spirograph in the kitchen.  I didn't have the radio on or the TV on.  So it was pretty quiet.  Before I realized it Gillian started singing.  I thought she was just going to sing for a little bit and stop.  But she didn't.  I was able to get a little video of her performance.  She is concentrating so hard on her coloring that she didn't even notice me filming her.

The map

John made Gillian a map today. He cut it into pieces and hid it around the house and the backyard. Gillian then had to start in her room and find all the pieces of the map. Once she had all the pieces she would be able to find the "treasure." Gillian loved this and volunteered to make the treasure. While John was making the map, she was coloring a Lego man. John agreed to make her picture the treasure. He then rehid the map pieces and the treasure. They ran around the house and the backyard looking for the hidden pieces. After they were done, Gillian cut up her Lego man picture and she hid them for John to find. 

It was such a simple game, but they loved it. And I loved watching them. 

The picture

I found Gillian at school tonight sitting at a table coloring. She looked up at me and said "I coloring a picture!" I said "That's great but we have to go get John."  She said "Ok. I gotta finish it."  She colored a little more and then handed me a crayon and said "Write my name."  As we were leaving her classroom, she described her picture to me "It's Beauty and the Beast!"

In the car she continued to tell me about her picture.  "It's got all the princesses. Cinderella. Ariel. Who's Ariel?" I told her that Ariel was the little mermaid. She said "Oh. And her boy! Her boy has a dog." I said "Her prince is Prince Eric." Gillian pointed at her picture and then said "He's over here with his dog." I asked her who else was in the picture. She said "Jasmine. Sofia and her mommy. And her daddy and James and Amber." I said "Is Sleeping Beauty in your picture?" Silly Gilly asked "Who's that?" I reminded her that Sleeping Beauty was the princess that the fairies kept trying to change the color of her dress. She remembered and said "Yes. Her is over there in her pink dress!" I love that she saw all of these princesses in her little drawing. 

She carried her picture into John's school. All the Time+ teachers complimented her on her beautiful art work. Gillian was super excited to show John. John took one look at it and said "Nice job Gill." Then he turned to me and whispered "Does she know it's just scribbles?" I told him that Gillian drew a picture of all the princesses. He just shrugged his shoulders and put on his coat. Sometimes he has no imagination.  

Below is Gillian's beautiful picture: