Prolific Caleb

Caleb has blossomed into a prolific artist. The first thing he does when he wakes up in the morning is make a beeline to the dining room table, not to eat breakfast, but to commence a drawing of whatever happens to be his subject of choice for the week. Likewise, the first thing he does when he comes home from school on most days is situate himself at the table with a piece of paper and a bucket of markers. You would think he'd be tired of sitting and drawing after being at school all day, but apparently not. Joshua, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with sitting and drawing during after-school hours. He would rather run around the house for a while before settling into the couch with his latest library book.

I first noticed Caleb's trend toward the end of the summer when he became obsessed with drawing David and Goliath: pages upon pages of pictures of David with his sling facing off with Goliath with his sword. Some time later, he started drawing cars: lots of cars, complete with details such as headlights and spirals of exhaust spewing out the back. From there, he progressed on to pumpkins: jack-o-lanterns with varying shaped eyes, noses, and mouths. Next came pirate ships, influenced by our voyage on a pirate ship in Baltimore. And Caleb's most recent subject matter has been the owl, his school's mascot. Specifically, he draws an owl slightly hovering above the branch of a tree, almost always slightly tilting to the left, with a crescent moon in the upper right corner and a black night sky in the background.

It's fascinating how consistent Caleb is, with only slight variations in each piece from each series, not much unlike how a real artist operates. Indeed, of the many printmaking works I created in college, there are quite a few series of a common image with only slight variations among the members of each set. Caleb demonstrates the perfectionist tendencies of an artist, too. If he accidentally colors outside one of the lines he draws, he launches into a fit of consternation, dramatically discarding the ruined piece aside and starting over on a clean slate.

A few quotes:

"Caleb, it's not good to talk to your friends like that. Only Mommy can talk like that." - Joshua

"Oh, come on Caleb, don't be sad. Let's get busy. I like to play trains with you." - Joshua

"He is really evil and not a good student and is absolutely bad." -Joshua, commenting on someone's scary Halloween decoration.

Woman, talking to the twins: "How old are you?"
Caleb and Joshua: *no response*
Moses: "They are 5 and I am 2."

"I love green, and brown is my favorite color, too, because I am brown." - Moses

"Those two squirrels are friends, like me and Desmond." -Moses, while watching two squirrels chase and play with each other

"Look, mom, it's a silent color." -Moses, while applying very light pressure to the crayon while drawing.