My Grand Children.

Photos copyright: Maggie May

I just loved Millie's colourful collage that I put on the fridge door.

She has settled in her Reception class very well. She especially seems to love Art and English.

The picture at the bottom of the post seems typical of much of her art work. She draws lots of friends holding hands and this picture represents her friendly nature.

She has a thirst for learning that is hard to describe.

Amber is also very good at reading and spelling. I find it hard to imagine her coming to England unable to communicate in English only two years ago. She has many friends and seems to be going to parties regularly. A real little all rounder.

My oldest grandson, Rick (who has autistic spectrum disorder) has now received a statement at school, which will mean that he gets 21 hours a week of extra help. He really needs this help as without it he tends to mess around and doesn't get motivated.

He is fairly intelligent and just needs to be guided, though his social skills are very behind average.

Dean, his younger brother, just loves Sam, my son, who he looks to as the father figure that is lacking in his life. He just won't leave him alone when he comes over from the east coast.

The two boys were here last week and they had such a good time when they all got together. The cousins spent hours on the wii in the attic and were no trouble at all.

I am so proud of all my grandchildren and they give me so much pleasure. Their photos are everywhere about the house.

Through Children's Eyes

Photos copyright of Maggie May.

I always encourage my grandchildren to draw and paint, having an artistic flair myself. They have an artistic auntie back in Japan, so if they do end up being good at art in the future, then I cannot claim all the credit. Their dad also has an artistic eye, but then he might take after me!

I usually end up putting their offerings onto the fridge door. Seems a good place to display it. Sometimes I get too much artwork given to me and I have to surreptitiously recycle something and hope it won't be missed.

The top picture was painted by Amber who was six when she did it. Notice the way the merman is ogling the mermaid! Little girls of this age love mermaids and horses, but horses are more difficult to draw, so I am told.

Now this one was drawn and painted by Millie who is four. She called it *the owl and the ghost.* I am not sure what she was thinking about at the time or where she got her idea from. If I had asked her she probably wouldn't have a clue, as her little brain moves on fairly quickly and I have a job to catch up. I think she might well be the one who has the most talent as she used to spend so long painting, though sadly, the desire to paint does seem to be waning slightly these days.

Working in an After School Club, I do get presented with a fair bit of art work from various children and I don't usually keep it because of lack of space. However the picture below was produced by a friend of Amber's and presented to me, so I put it on the fridge door in a place of honour. The look of pleasure on the child's face when I told her it would go in a special place with the granddaughter's artwork, was a real pleasure to see. I always pretend that I will keep their work, but this time I actually did.

Its a happy little picture, isn't it?