Discovering Talents

We had "Christmas Craft Day - Part 2" today to finish the crafts we ran out of time for on Saturday.  The big kids were excited to do the sand art project I brought and the little ones were occupied with clay.  After the last top was plugged on the sand vases, most of the kiddos wanted to finish painting the stepping stones they started on the first day.  Since Noah's was already complete, he moved to playing with the babies and the clay.

Within seconds he held up the cutest little carrot, complete with leaves and all the details.  It looked so good you could almost imagine it would crunch if eaten.  I told him he should make a rabbit to go with the carrot, which again he master sculpted in a matter of moments.  Once everyone realized how good he was - and he figured out he enjoyed it so much, Noah began taking orders.  An hour later, he'd made french fries, complete with salt sprinkles, a bitten tomato with seeds, a pig in the grass, and a sushi roll with child-friendly chopsticks and wasabi sauce!  The details in the sushi were amazing and I think we may have a Michelangelo on our hands. Maybe all those years of sitting in the floor and squishing Play-Do with him planted a seed!

I always love it when new talents are discovered from a child, like unwrapping a present they begin to emerge.  On the way home I complimented him again and he just beamed with self confidence, thanking me.  Hours later on the couch, he thanked me again for saying something about his creations.  It just goes to show you how a kind word can lift someone.  You never know what a single sentence can do to someone's self esteem.  Maybe it just made his day and he'll never care about playing with clay again...or maybe he's found a new way to express himself and we'll be buying a pottery wheel! 

It's just my job - and my pleasure - to mold him into the person he's meant to be and to fill his life with happiness along the way.  He certainly does mine.