Many months back John spun around like a cat trying to catch his tail. "John, John, that's your shadow. Oh my goodness! Okay, light bounces off an object, wait, where's the light source, ah, yes. Look, early morning sun, perfect!" "Mom." "Wait. See the sun beats down on you, but your body is blocking some of the light. You can draw a direct line-" "Mom." "You haven't heard the best part. I'm telling you this is so cool. There are colors in shadows. Colors! The color of the light will create a color opposite it on the color wheel. Yellowish light gives you violets and purples. Orange gives your cyan and aquamarine. Oh, oh, wait till Christmas time when people use those green porch lights. Magenta, John!" "Mom!" "Right, right, right." I stomped down on his long shadow (accented with hints of violet). "See, that. I just kicked your shadow's butt. Oh, look at that, stepped on your shadow again." He squealed. I laughed big and loud as we chased each other's shadows. Neither kid cares yet about colors in shadows.
Think Out Loud is crazy awesome. A meme like no other. Post a picture, poem, favorite word. Honest, Think did that one time. Come and hang out with us. We promise to pay attention!
(By Philippe Alès (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)
(By Sakurambo at en.wikipedia [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], from Wikimedia Commons)
Oh wow! I don't remember when I discovered my shadow but I sure wish I did! This was so freaking funny and interesting. Great job as usual!
ReplyDeleteI realized after I wrote the post I had been talking to a toddler about the color wheel. What the heck! I guess I need to get back into art. Your flash mob video from The Big Bang was awesome!
DeleteAwesome, Robyn! I love that you saw a little girl that made you think of having another child - or at least your conversation with John! LOL Shadows are fantastic. I wouldn't be able to describe them like you did but I have one child who would appreciate your explanation. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen my kids were younger, we'd use sidewalk chalk to draw around our shadows. Have y'all done that? I would pose in some silly way and the kids would draw around my shadow...and it's great fun to see how the shadows change sizes throughout the day. Anyway...there's my shadow fun! :) Happy Friday, Robyn!
That is such a great activity to do with the kids! My first instinct with children is to talk, joke, then sing made up songs. I'm a terrible singer. At least I didn't come up with a color song. When we move, I'm breaking out the sidewalk chalk and drawing shadows. Hopefully Will won't color half his body blue again. He was blue for a few days. Happy Friday to you too, Brandee!!
DeleteSuch a cute story! When my son discovered his shadow, he was maybe 2 1/2, and he was scared of it. He didn't understand it was him - he thought it was a monster. I didn't really know what to say except to reassure him it wasn't a monster. :P
ReplyDeleteJohn might have been scared. I sort of lost perspective when I started explaining colors. Sheesh. And I'm pretty sure John was about the same age as your son. Sheesh again. Will always loved his shadow. I think he found comfort in the company. Thanks for stopping by! I love the new look on your blog. I grabbed your button!
DeleteThat is so cute, the little girl twirling because she noticed her own shadow following her, and also John with your colorful explanation ;) I can't remember if my kids suddenly discovered their shadows or how I explained it to them, but like Brandee, we've been drawing our shadows as well. It's a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteHave a fantastic Friday Robyn :) I love your Think out Loud posts!
I never thought to draw the shadows. I can't wait to do that with the boys! I can't remember the first time Will discovered his shadow. He would have been nonverbal at the time, but I have attempted the color talk before he cut me off soundly. Hmm. You and Brandee are a pair of fun moms!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post, Robyn. I could imagine the girl chasing her shadows. It's funny. :) I can't remember any Chasing Shadows experience I can remember, but I loved reading about this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
I hope you'll have a great weekend! :)
It's a fun game guaranteed to bring on the squeals, but it's very age specific. I think John is already starting to outgrow the game. The girl was so adorable and I remember joy rushing through me at the sight of her discovering her shadow. Very neat moment to witness.
DeleteLOL This made me think of Peter Pan and his shadow. As an artist, I love your explanation :D hehehe
ReplyDeleteYes! I remember my first year of art and being shown how much my eyes were missing. My brain still fills in the blanks, but I try to slow it down or John reminds me to slow it down and see for real. Can't help but get giddy over it. I hope you're feeling better. You're in my thoughts, Jaclyn.
DeleteHehe that's was good. It must be very fun to hear a kid's question, monitoring his/hers reactions.
ReplyDeleteI don't deal with kids a lot. Only my cousin has a daugther but they live in another city and I don't get to see her a lot. She is three years old and since she is the first child in our family, we are all crazy about her. I wish I could be able to see her more often. She kind of likes me. :) Last time I saw her (four months ago) she lead me to her hiding place and showed me her dolls. She is adorable.
Thanks for sharing this, Robyn. And the explanation about the shadows was amazing.
Before my boys I never spent much time around kids. It is cute when they're so excited to show you around. When we first moved into our apartment a couple years ago they asked everyone to come inside and look at their rooms. Your feature and follow was spot on this week. Loved your words!
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