There are A LOT of bloggers out there. I'm not assuming that this blog will ever be read by more than family and friends. However, this being the internet, I'm sure the occasional google gallivanter will happen upon this site. I'm also sure that they will immediately find me to be a sappy, overinvolved parent of toddlers. To insure this postulation, Friday's will be feature days for my son, Nova's, creative endeavors. When Nova was small I knew he was an amazing child. He is a curious mix of intellect, emotion, and an inherent pull towards the spiritual. At times his intellect far surpasses his emotional development and it causes an upheaval within our household.

One example is his third year, in which, we tried to have him FINALLY sleep in his own bed. We were content to fall asleep next to him, waking to retreat to our own room for a couple of restful hours without a toddler flopping around on top of us like a fish out of water. When we decided we'd had enough...wait, actually, when I discovered I was pregnant with a second child, we were determined to have him sleep in his own room. We were unfaltering in our efforts to have him lull himself to sleep. Around this same time, Gra, my husband's grandmother, passed away. She was the family's matriarch. We all felt quite lost and my son processed this through an unyielding fear of death and darkness. We had to sit with him through snot and tears to assure him that he was safe. We had to run through the list of all the beautiful things in the world that surrounded him and loved him as we do. This included naming each grandparent, aunt, uncle, animal, flora and fauna of the world. I'm quite sure that we even made up some new creatures in the process to ensure his feeling of security. It was a very trying time and no one I knew was going through anything similar. I was familiar with a child's fear of the darkness but never met a child who had such a firm understanding of the permanence of death and a reverence for all things that are LIFE. He still has his fears, he still maintains his reverence, but with reasoning, he's able to better process his feelings.

One thing that has helped him is his drawing. He turns a blank page into a world of transcendental imagery. He creates characters that, their amazing powers, can get him out of any sticky situation. I was distraught when he discovered Pokemon. Around 4 he saw this cute yellow dog-cat-teddy bear like creature, that we now know is called Pikachu. I didn't entertain his interest in the least. He asked questions and, although I'd done my research, I wouldn't answer any of them. Instead, my inquisitive little boy would run up to children at the playground to find out anything he could about these so-called Pocket monsters. By his fifth year Nova knew, roughly, 20 of the characters names and one of their special powers. He also knew there was a card game because we'd often go to the playground when the afterschool children would hide under the structures to play, away from the prying eyes of authority. He begged and pleaded for the cards and I staunchly stood my ground. For a child such as this one, it provided the stimulus needed to create his own characters. He spent countless hours at the kitchen table rigorously pencilling strange looking animorphs of average things. He has explained to me that his mind often moves so quickly, the cogs and gears spinning out of control, that he must color quickly to get to the next creation. He would often wake in the morning with a new creature begging for his masterful hand to give him life. Fridays will be the day when the clouds clear, the sun shines and you are welcomed into his world of whimsy. It's a beautiful place! I feel honored that I sometimes get to walk with him and his friends, hearing the stories of their many adventures. Speaking of which, he also writes stories that I may one day share. Yep, that's me, so sappy and completely immersed AND...

Loving almost every minute of it;)

_{I can only assume that Diggadirt was intended to be a protective character. His father spends innumerous hours digging dirt for his BMX bike jumps. It may have some influence?}

*I would also like to add that now that Nova is 7 we've allowed him to play with Pokemon. I thought that he would become obssessed but he still draws and still creates things that amaze me.  Diggadirt is a creature drawn in Nova's fifth year.