Thinking Like an Artist

I had just finished feeding the kids breakfast when I felt it coming on...the energy shift.  Sometimes Sam has a difficult time transitioning from one event to another.  The downtime in our day, whether it is two minutes or two hours, often leaves his mind and its ever-spinning gears without something to focus on.   A negative energy settles over the house that I can immediately sense, and others who know Sam really well can often feel it coming on, too.  It's like when the wind chimes clink in the breeze in a disaster movie - you know that's your clue a tornado is on its way.   

The older Sam gets the more obvious it becomes that his mind craves more stimulation than what can usually occurs organically throughout the day, and he needs help redirecting the energy that comes from these downtimes into something positive.  So, ideally, (though often not possible) it's best to stay a few steps ahead of him and have things prepared for him to do, even if it's just throwing a few riddles at him or playing a game of "questions".  It calms him and gives his brain something to do.  

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Thank goodness it was sunny and dry when I looked out the window after breakfast.  He needed more than just something to read or learn about today - he needed to get outside, and Evie and I did, too.  It's been a very rainy spring, and since Sam and I had not practiced photography together in a couple of weeks, the plan was a no-brainer:  take a walk - to Lake Providence this time - with our cameras in-hand to see what can we find!

While we were getting ready I suggested to Sam that he have something specific in mind to work on while he walked and photographed.  My idea was to make sure he had a clear subject in mind for each photo; a flower pot, a tree, a neighbor, etc.  He replied with OR!  I could photograph different textures I see along the way and when we come home you could guess what they were and we could make a texture collection!

Ummm, yeah!  That's waaay better than my idea.  Let's do it!

So off we went, Evie with her baby, baby stroller, and bunny purse filled with baby's bottles, and Sam and I with our cameras, bending over taking photos of grass, puddles and concrete.  I'm sure we looked like quite the crew walking through the neighborhood!  

Sam's eye for texture was really good, and he'd get excited about the textures I spotted for him as well.   Strangely enough, he found a piece of sandpaper on the sidewalk by the lake - how perfect was that?  We also found some clams on the shore, which totally made his day.  He brought home twelve clams, one seashell and one lucky penny, and made up a song about being Sam the Clam Collector.  He kept saying this was the best day of his life.

He was so proud to show me each picture he captured on our texture walk.  And he was open to the photography advice I gave along the way, like when I reminded him to slow down, keep his breath still and watch for his focal point when shooting.  It's amazing how many "keepers" he gets when he takes his time.  

Sam Straka, age 6

My favorite image of his from today was of this snail.  It was one of those itty-bitty snails and it was sliding through a small, muddy patch in someone's landscaping.  How Sam saw it I don't know.  He has that radar for all things creepy-crawly that little boys seem to possess.  

When we got home, Sam observed his critters for a while, arranged them in an old Tupperware bowl, found the perfect spot for them in his room and drew them a picture.  When Brian got home from work they read an article about clams and watched some YouTube videos to learn where they come from and how to cook them.  They even saw a video of a clam licking salt off a kitchen counter!  It was a fun morning, with the clam-collecting being the highlight, for sure. To see the rest of the images from Sam's texture walk, go to his gallery or click here.

Butterflies

It's been an extra special spring at the Straka house this year - we raised butterflies!  Our cup o' caterpillars arrived "special delivery" one day after school.  They were teeny-tiny little things, and Sam had his ladybug magnifying glass glued to his eye at all times, watching them wiggle up, down and around the cup.  We sat on the porch that day and read a book about a little boy who raises Painted Lady butterflies while we watched our "cater-pickles" (as Evie calls them) crawl around and munch, munch, munch on the food at the bottom of their cup.

Sam journaled a picture of the caterpillars every couple of days.  We were surprised how fast they grew!  Eight days after they first arrived, we woke up to our caterpillars in their "J-formation" at the top of the cup.  This was a pretty exciting discovery because we knew it meant they were on their way to forming their chrysalides.  What we didn't know was how fast it would happen!  That morning before school they were "Js", and by the time we got home from school, they were almost all wrapped up.  Amazing! 

About a week later, our chrysalides were snug and cozy when I checked on them before taking Sam to school, and then few hours later I walked by the cage again and BOOM we had three butterflies!  Three of our four butterfly babies had emerged from their chrysalides and were drying their wet, crumpled wings.   I quickly cleaned Sam's room up all nice, gathered some flowers, fruit and made some sugar water, and then placed the butterfly cage on his art table.  I picked him up from school and didn't say anything, but I did ask him to go in his room when we got home.  Needless to say, he was very surprised!

One night Sam came running in to Brian and I, clearly upset, telling us we needed to come to the cage.  He said "I think there's something wrong with this butterfly's leg", and sure enough, there was a butterfly leg on the bottom of the cage, unattached to a butterfly (see image above).  Sam burst into tears and was terrified that the butterfly was in pain or might die.  We assured him she was fine and that she had five other perfect legs and two sets of perfect wings to help her get around.  He monitored her closely, and we were happy to find that she was quite mobile throughout her time with us!  We called her a "she" after Pops named her...<ahem>..."Eileen".

We fed them and observed them for several days, watching the fourth chrysalis on the bottom of the cage, wondering if he was ever going to emerge.  Sam informed me that all his butterflies were boys because he's a boy, completely unaware that all us grownups had been snickering about "Eileen" for a while.  Sam and Brian went out to run some errands on a Saturday afternoon.  While they were gone, our fourth butterfly emerged from his chrysalis.  His wings were pretty crumpled, and part of his chrysalis was stuck to his tongue, so he was having a hard time.  I surprised Sam again when he and Brian got home.  I told him to look in the butterfly cage - you can tell he didn't see anything at first!  Once he saw him, he was so relieved that all our butterflies were out and flying. 

I was really bothered by our new little guy who was struggling with his proboscis.  He wanted to eat but his chrysalis was getting in the way.  I did a little "surgery" with one of my sewing tools, and while I was able to get off the piece that was blocking him from eating, the force split his proboscis in half quite a ways up, so he ended up looking like a snake with a very forked tongue.  His wings never uncrumpled, either, so the poor guy had a rough go at being a butterfly.  I may have named this butterfly myself, but...<ahem>...it wasn't a very nice name and is definitely not blog-appropriate...

The day finally came when it was time to release our babies.  We waited until Brian was home to help us.  We thought Sam might be upset, but he handled it very well.  Gram told Sam to release them somewhere close to the house because they like to hang around the people who raised them and help pollinate their flowers for them (*wink *wink).  So that's just what we did!  Three of our butterflies flew around the yard and the bushes, then up and over the roof.  Our fourth butterfly, the late bloomer, needed some extra help, so we placed him on the flowers in our front pots, and eventually *he flew away and lived a happy butterfly life!

*He did not fly away.  He hopped down from the pot and took cover under the bushes were he stayed for TWO days.  He even survived a hailstorm!  Tough little bugger.  We don't actually know what happened to him after that.  Shhh...don't tell Sam!

Sam was a GREAT big brother to his butterflies. We all learned a lot and we hope to do it again and again!