Rembrandt! Van Gough! Fishman?

Amari went to her first play group last Friday - a gathering of parents and children at the local community center in Elk. After our daily dose of Hunter and Jim, Amari and I picked up Nicole and Reya and made the windy journey south for rest of the morning.

We arrived early and volunteered to help the director, Diana, set up the stations - everything a kid could want,  including a play dough table, crafts, building blocks, painting, tumbling mats, balls, and so on. At about a quarter past ten parents began to trickle in with their tots ranging from the ages of about 1 to 5 years old. Amari was the second youngest there, but what she lacked in age she made up for in ambition.

Amari's favorite stops on the circuit were the tumbling mats and the water colors. Amari has been wanting to go up and down stairs, but still needs our help with both directions. On the mats, she was able to step off the mat onto the wood floor - a drop of about two inches - and she took immense pleasure in her success, quickly turning around, stepping back up onto the mat, and descending once again. The look on her face each time she stepped off the mat was sheer delight, coupled with the occasional chuckle. On top of the mats were other objects she could climb, and she did so with reckless abandon, not once crying after a fall or a collision with the other kids.

The water colors, however, had her attention the most. As we stood at the table, I tried to demonstrate the technique t her, dipping the brush in water, then paint, then paper. Amari jumped right in, but itstead went paint, water, paper, which is apparently a technique called a wash. Her color choice was mostly black in the first painting, and when I tried to correct her technique, she grew angry and pushed my hand away as if to say, "Dude, I'm sixteen months old, okay? Back the f--k off, Dada." After two such implications, I backed the f--k off. I know when I'm beat.

All in all, I loved the plaIy group and will definitely go back. I met a couple of moms and a couple of dad, and I learned that the uniqueness of Amari's name depends on whom you're spending time with. She was the like the Bob of the play group down there with other kids named Usi and Kaira and what-not. Kind of reminded me of my upbringing..

The coolest thing of all was taking home the finished product of Amari's first water coloring experience. I know I'm her dad, but I think she might have some talent already. Having had a long talk/mocking session about the paintings Jim enjoys and has paid good money for, I told Nicole I was going to frame Amari's work and try to get a few thousand dollars for them.

You be the judge

Amari's Dark Period

Amari's work after the Beatles took LSD

The best part of all - the epic three hour nap Amari took when we got home. It was so sound I had vacuum  to wake her ass up so we could pick up Maba (Mama).