Marking Her Territory

Marian's aunt--Todd's sister--is an artist with a penchant for thought-provoking installations and performance pieces in public spaces. I can only think Mari hopes to follow in her aunt's footsteps. She is in a streak of coloring on anything and everything, at every opportunity, clearly in an effort to remove the barriers between artwork and its audience by forcing an interaction within the context of the everyday experience.

Either that, or she is being a pesky three-year old. I prefer to think of her as an artist-in-training.

If a pen, pencil, crayon, or marker is on the loose and Mari goes silent, you can bet that you'll soon find something in the house all marked up. A partial list of things on which Marian has colored...in the last week:

• Todd's guitar
• Stair wall
• Bathroom counter
• Our bed sheets
• Her bed sheets
• Her bed
• Preschool sign-in sheet
• Preschool tables
• Her medical forms
• Eddie's bedroom door
• Eddie's book
• My bras
• Family room cabinets
• Herself
• Her brother
• The barrels of the markers themselves

She is in coloring lockdown, meaning she is only allowed to use writing implements with adult supervision. If you've ever tried to hide away every pen and pencil in a preschooler's life, however, you'll know how futile an effort it is.

In a similar (although much less destructive) streak with Eddie when he was little I sappily announced that love is slowly losing control of your tidy house and not minding one bit. As tired as I am of wiping marker off the wall, and as much as I'm looking forward to Mari eventually making better choices in this arena, there is still a part of me that wouldn't trade this for anything.