Well, pardon me, Picasso!

There  is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colours are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.

~Elizabeth Lawrence~

I mentioned here previously about how much my Missy Moo loves drawing. I also mentioned that she loves putting up her drawings all over the house - the walls, doors, the fridge...literally any flat surfaces. Frequently, I've to pick up her drawings that have fallen on the floor. One day, one of her drawings was blown off the fridge magnet holding it to the fridge.

Me: Alyssa! Please pick up your picture from the floor before I accidentally step on it!

Alyssa (looking around): Where? What picture? 

Me (pointing at the offending piece of paper on the floor): That! 

Alyssa (in a haughty voice): Oh that! That's not a picture, mum. That's art !

Touché. Talk about being picky on the vocabulary.

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Yesterday, while waiting for her outside her classroom, I had a peep in, and noticed that she was sitting at the desk doing some work while the rest of her classmates were at the front of the class listening to storytime. Straight away, I felt the claws of disapproval creep up on me. I thought she must've been slow in her work, and so she has to stay back to do it while the rest were treated with a story.

When class was let out, I went in to ask her how come she was still doing her work when everyone else had finished. The teacher came beside me, and I prematurely apologised for Alyssa's lack of efficiency.

"Oh no, no." she said. "Come, come with me." She walked me to her desk and went through her pile of her class' drawings. She pulled out Alyssa's. She then walked to one wall fully covered with children's drawings and pointed out a few of Alyssa's. "Look at all her work. Look at how beautiful and colourful her drawings are." She flipped through some very impressive work of art. "Alyssa is very meticulous and pays attention to details in her drawings. Artwork like this need a lot of time and effort, which was what she was doing. She chose to spend the time producing quality workmanship. She has created marterpieces, mum. You should be proud!"

I am proud. All her drawings are so bright, colourful and cheery, representing her vibrant personality. She loves her sunshine, rainbows, gardens filled with birds and butterflies; not forgetting that she always have friends and family in her pictures dotted with love-hearts all over - shows her affectionate nature, her love for her friends and family.

Yet, this petite Miss Four-and-Half carries so much spunk and worldliness that she is absolutely justified in pointing out the distinction between picture and art.