I am so not the artsy-fartsy, creative, kids-crafty kind of Mom that I probably should be. Oh, the pressure. Set-up fun and educational, creative activities for your children! Definitely not me. Even pulling out the Playdoh is an impressive act for this Slacker Mom. Every once in a while I do try though.

For Father’s Day last year, I wanted to make Mike a stepping stone with the boys’ hand prints. (Remember, at the time Zachary was just a teeny tiny peanut). My Mom helped because, let’s face it, the woman can hold her own in the artsy-fartsy world. It went OK, but again, I always find that once I’m in the middle of an art project – it’s just a bit too much work and too much mess for me. I also didn’t really think through the whole process. Zachary was developmentally right on for a few-months-old Preemie – he did exactly what he was supposed to do. We stuck his hand in the cement and he immediately grabbed a hand-full of the ooey goo. His hand print looked more like a little chicken foot print. I attempted to just fill it in to make it appear more human baby-like and not poultry-like.

This year, I thought we would continue with the stepping stone theme but do the boys’ footprints. Couldn’t be that hard, right? And actually, it wasn’t too bad. Zach’s print looks to be missing about three toe imprints, but at least it’s more baby than birdie.

My problem with the arts and crafts is – while I don’t claim to have much artistic talent – I do start a project with a vision. Things get tricky when little people actually want to help and participate with the mommy-son craft. Instead of putting the little glass mosaic tiles around the edge of the stone (as was my master plan), Matthew was sticking stones in the middle – where their feet would need to go. I practically follow him around undoing all of the goodness that he’s trying to do. Talk about shooting down his creative juices! Sorry, kiddo; I’ll give you the number of my therapist. Oh well, I may have scarred him in the process, but at least I fulfilled our art project quota for the year.