![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Watch for him in MOMA
Mar. 17th, 2012 11:25 pmI know, I know; everyone's kid is the most talented, the most adorable, the most intelligent... but, seriously, my nephew is brilliant.
My sister is very modest about the obvious genius of her first-born. In conversation, she tends to focus on how rapidly he is changing, comparing what he can do today to what he could do a week or a month ago. This provides plenty of conversation fodder, as two-and-a-half year olds do change almost daily, but she does miss out on a lot of opportunities to brag.
We were at my sister's place yesterday for a family dinner. Towards the end of the evening, I was telling William, my nephew, that I was getting tired. My Mom laughed that Russ was going to have to carry me from the car if I fell asleep on the drive home. William ran up to Russ: "Uncle Russ, are you ready to carry Aunt 'Lissa? If she's asleep, you have to carry her!"
Russ did scoop me up and teasingly carried me towards the front hall. William ran ahead and unlocked and opened the front door - a new trick he has only acquired in the last week or so, to my sister's consternation.
Setting aside his acute listening skills and ability to carry through on ideas, I think art is where his best talents may lie. I received my first nephew-made birthday card this year. Here's the outside of the card, which I flattened and scanned:
Observe the colour choices, the freedom of the movement of the lines, and the placement of the art relative to the page. I think he has perfectly captured that elusive thing about childhood: the way joy can so easily turn into angst, and how chaotic, yet contained, life must seem from a toddler's perspective.
Here's the inside of the card:
Such a joyful spill of stickers, with such delightful placement. Observe the choice to put just one sticker upside down: such whimsy!
Clearly, William is an artist ahead of his time. Just wait to see his first pieces to appear in the Museum of Modern Art in eighteen to twenty years.
My sister is very modest about the obvious genius of her first-born. In conversation, she tends to focus on how rapidly he is changing, comparing what he can do today to what he could do a week or a month ago. This provides plenty of conversation fodder, as two-and-a-half year olds do change almost daily, but she does miss out on a lot of opportunities to brag.
We were at my sister's place yesterday for a family dinner. Towards the end of the evening, I was telling William, my nephew, that I was getting tired. My Mom laughed that Russ was going to have to carry me from the car if I fell asleep on the drive home. William ran up to Russ: "Uncle Russ, are you ready to carry Aunt 'Lissa? If she's asleep, you have to carry her!"
Russ did scoop me up and teasingly carried me towards the front hall. William ran ahead and unlocked and opened the front door - a new trick he has only acquired in the last week or so, to my sister's consternation.
Setting aside his acute listening skills and ability to carry through on ideas, I think art is where his best talents may lie. I received my first nephew-made birthday card this year. Here's the outside of the card, which I flattened and scanned:
Observe the colour choices, the freedom of the movement of the lines, and the placement of the art relative to the page. I think he has perfectly captured that elusive thing about childhood: the way joy can so easily turn into angst, and how chaotic, yet contained, life must seem from a toddler's perspective.
Here's the inside of the card:
Such a joyful spill of stickers, with such delightful placement. Observe the choice to put just one sticker upside down: such whimsy!
Clearly, William is an artist ahead of his time. Just wait to see his first pieces to appear in the Museum of Modern Art in eighteen to twenty years.
