I took Em to this free art class today at the Happy Art Studio. I found out about the free lesson because the instructor is also a fitness instructor at my gym. (Very talented artist AND incredibly fit, as well…yes, you can hate her, too.)

Anyhow, A. and I dropped Em off, and I am continually amazed at how “old” Em appears to be. She sat right down at the little desk, like she does this sort of thing all the time. Dropping her at a strange school, with a woman she has never met before, and running for the door, it all didn’t seem to phase her in the least.

When we returned two hours later, the teacher could not stop raving about how talented she is, how well she listens, how detail-oriented she is, and just generally what a great kid she is. Of course I was partly very proud of her, (I do know she does have some artistic talent in there) but I was also a little, “Whaaaat? Not one sassy moment? You didn’t have to repeat yourself twenty times? No excuses?”

It is very comforting to know that she is a “good” kid when I send her out on her own, into the world. And I should just be thankful that she is comfortable with me and understand that she needs to test her limits. But, come on! Can’t I have just one day with that “good” kid? No fights. No battles. No questions asked.

Here is the artwork she worked on today -

I was pretty impressed. They were working on basic shapes, mostly circles, ovals and half-circles. I did like the school, they get a lot of individualized attention and she really liked it. She said she would rather do art school than soccer (which she has been bugging me about for the past year!).

But, (there is always a but, right?) it is expensive. So expensive. So now what do we do? She could be a great artist. I certainly don’t want to squash any talent she might have, or not help it blossom. But I could also buy her a lot of art supplies for the cost of just a few classes.