In the days before Tori was born, and in fact for many months afterward, Brian had a mantra of sorts. “Be a lawyer. Be an engineer. Be a doctor. Just don’t major in liberal arts,” he’d whisper to her.
He’d talk about how we needed to buy her chemistry sets and teach her math and make sure she was friends with all the smart kids. Anything to steer her away from the artistic tendencies that are no doubt all over her genome.
Through it all I’d smile and roll my eyes, knowing full well that we’ll ultimately let Tori be anything she darn well wants to be.
And sure enough, it wasn’t long before Brian began to change his tune. When she began to show a passing interest in music, Brian hauled my old electronic keyboard out of the garage and together they’d spend hours (well, okay minutes. We are talking about an infant’s attention span here) making “music.”
Soon, he was talking about the budding virtuoso we had on our hands.
And when she started coming home from daycare with paintings? Daddy puffed up with pride. He examined each one, eventually proclaiming that Tori has an actual Style.
“See how she uses textures?” he’d exclaim. “And the circles, they’re concentric!”
Shortly thereafter, he dug out his own oil paints, built an easel and started painting again. He insisted it was for his own enjoyment, but I know there’s a little part of his brain excited to teach her about the art he loves.
And sure enough, this was the scene in his “art room” on a recent Sunday morning. Tori had discovered his easel, and wanted to paint. But since oil paints and toddlers don’t mix, Brian went to the garage to find his old acrylics and sorted through it, looking for bottles she could paint with.
Creating the perfect palette for our budding artist.
Before long, Daddy and baby were creating masterpieces together.
Now that's what I call quality time.
I think it’s time we admitted to ourselves that we don’t know how to raise an engineer. But a piano-playing, oil-painting writer? That we can do.
This post was inspired by Alli n’ Son, who’s taking part in a month long challenge to capture those she loves on camera over at the Joy of Love. The post idea I’m borrowing asked her to catch her loved ones doing what they do. Go visit – her pictures are lovely.
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