Love

Keeley got very, very angry with me today.  I made them go in their rooms early for "quiet time" because they were fighting so much after lunch.  As they worked in their rooms I was straightening up in the house and took something to Keeley's room.  The instant I walked in she flipped over her work and put her body in front of it.  I didn't say anything and left the room.  A few minutes later she came out of her room bawling because she could not get her work to "look the way I want.  I can't get it right.  It won't ever be right.  I can't fix it."

I snuggled with her and talked to her about how art does not have to look perfect.  I talked to her about creativity and imagination.  I said all the things you should say to your daughter who is a perfectionist when it comes to her artwork.  She kept shaking her head and telling me it wasn't right.  I finally asked her to show me the work. 

As it turns out, this work wasn't a drawing.  Instead it was a note to me.  Her frustration was that she didn't know how to spell enough of the words and couldn't come up with the right symbols for everything. 

You'll notice the heart for love, the "ur" for you are, and the grumpy face for grumpy.  Just in case I wasn't sure who the note was for, she wrote my actual name in three places.  Apparently, her love is conditional at this point.  Whether she likes to admit it or not though, she still needs me a little because it is my arms she came to for comfort when she couldn't accurately write the note to tell me she didn't love me since I was grumpy.