James

James is one month from turning 5 years old. He's going through a phase that's especially frustrating right now...pestering loved ones, pushing buttons, testing limits. He's also really into collecting bugs and exploring his artistic side, which leads to urgent trapping situations (must catch that bug right now, drop everything, or it's the end of the world) and many, many messes on the floor in front of the art cabinet. I thought it was just a James thing, but then I came across this post from when Robert was the same age (just 2 months older, in fact).

They're not so different. In fact, the more I read about Robert at James' age, the more I realize that they are pretty similar. Maybe that's one reason they butt heads so frequently :(

Anyway, it's frustrating now, but Robert's outgrown the most frustrating bits. I have hope that James, too, will find a new and better way to express his needs over the next few years.

A portrait of Dinosaury in marker, complete with a mixed-media 3-D horn taped to the left of the page. The horn is composed of a crayon wrapped in half a mile of Scotch tape.