Max is 3!

Dear Max,

I'm writing this letter to you on the blog I've created because this project has become a big part of our lives. Sometimes I'm not sure if you really know what's going on....Do you notice that you wear yellow or green or orange or blue everyday for awhile? How about the music? How do you REALLY feel about classical music? One of the greatest beauties of who you are is your amazing ability to simply take life in stride. You don't know what we are doing or where we are going but you are almost always o.k. with it. In fact, every day at some point you say to me, "I'm okay, mama". Yes, you are baby.

Although, you are not a baby anymore. You love dinosaurs, robots, cars, books, trains and soup. You are a big guy now who knows all of his colors and his shapes. You are a guy who can count to 13. You are a guy who knows how to unlock doors and put in a dvd to watch. In fact, today to celebrate your birthday we took you to your very first movie. Learning how to sit still is definitely something a baby can't do! This year it's been amazing to watch how quickly you learn. How suddenly you put things together. We are constantly surprised by the things you can say and do. I have a feeling that we will always be pleasantly surprised by you.

You see, you are a bright light. A little piece of joy and every good thing I ever put into this world. No family is ever perfect and we are not either but we do have a lot of love and a lot of people in our lives to love. We are very lucky to have you and each other. Since the moment you were born, I can barely look at you without my heart exploding into a million pieces. It is also you who puts me back together again.

All my love, baby beluga.....

-Mama

March Madness

March is:

Number: 6
Letters: LM
Shape: Circle
Color: Blue
Music: Polka/Pop
Medium: Musical Instruments (Also carrying over paper)
Destination: Nature Museum
New Habit: No Eating Out/Take Out/Ordering In

I decided that I wouldn't torture myself or those around me by listening to Polka music for an entire month. I'm crazy but not that crazy. I also decided that I know very little about current popular music and could benefit from a month of listening to what everyone else is listening to. I think this is a wise decision all the way around.

Also, remember how I said I was a rule breaker? Yup....I'm just gonna keep breaking them rules. Especially since the minute that paper was the medium of a month (a medium i absolutely ADORE working with) I stopped making things with paper. I also have a really good idea for a series using paper and will be carrying it along to March.

March is also the month that Max will turn 3. I have a good feeling about this month.

Purple Urple

So.....let me tell you about the main thing I'm learning from this art project. The minute something becomes a rule for me is the minute I decide I don't want to do it anymore. This explains why you'll find me sneakily listening to non-jazz music or deciding it's o.k. to go to bed in an orange t-shirt and yellow pants. This is why our monthly habits have not become new habits at all. And really? This is what I'm taking away from February: I'm an incorrigible rule-breaker.

As always though, I was wearing mostly purple and I think purple is really a rather lovely color. I also listened to Jazz. Sadly, I am simply not bestirred by Jazz the way I am with some other music but my god, I LOVE Nina Simone. She hits me right in my gut every single time.

Max knows all of his shapes and colors by now so, really that whole part of the project is an afterthought. (You should hear him say "Octagon", it's adorable.) The letters are still all "B" to him but I think pretty soon he'll come around. As for the numbers, I'm pretty sure he can count up to at least 15 and he knows what the number 2 looks like. In less than a week, he will be 3 - so we will work on that number then. ;)

Finally, I went to the Art Institute twice this month. By some stroke of luck, February was the free month. I'd like to say I preplanned this but since the order was mostly drawn out of a hat that would be a lie. I meant to go once a week but February just disappeared for me. One minute it was February 2nd and the next time I blinked it was February 28th. I wasn't necessary crazy busy, I think I'm just in a gray sky daze.

So, yeah, the Art Institute. I feel like I need to preface this paragraph by saying that the Art Institute has long been one of my favorite places in the city. I've gone their all the way through my teens and my 20s. It used to be "Pay what you can" and so I'd pull out what ever crumbled bills I had on me and spend hours wandering around.

I hadn't been since they opened to new Modern Wing and I like Renzo Piano's work so I was excited to check it out. I will say that it's nice. It looks more like a gallery space and less like a museum. I will also say that the museum overall feels changed in a way that doesn't jive with me anymore and I spent much of my time mourning that change.

As for max? He was mostly uninterested in the whole thing. He did like the buddha sculptures but he did each of the children's areas too quickly to appreciate them. I think we will try again when he is a bit older.

There you have it. February is over.

Some of my favorite purple inspired music:

February (1/3 of the project is completed!)

FEBRUARY IS:

Number: 5
Letters: JK
Shape: Octagon
Color: Purple
Music: Jazz
Medium: Paper
Location: Art Institute
Habit: Mail One Card, Note or Letter Every Day

Some initial thoughts:

There are some things I'm excited about this month. Leave me with a Jar of Modge Podge and a pile of paper and I am a happy girl. Also, the Art Institute is one of my favorite places in this city of mine. It's a place I spent a great deal of time in during my teen years and I'm looking forward to reaquainting myself (and max) with it. (And FINALLY getting to see the new Modern Wing!).

Today we got off to our usual start. I scoured my itunes for relevant music and came up with an initial play list (Ella and Billie? Be still my heart!) I changed into a Purple T-shirt. I wrote a card to my mother. (I however didn't mail it. How was I to know they m oved the mailbox at the end of the block?!?!)

Then I realized that Max has no purple clothes, save a tie-dye t-shirt with a TINY bit of purple in it. You see, girls have taken over the market on purple clothes. I've not been too successful in finding stuff for Max. So, short of dressing him in girls clothes (and promptly saving for years worth of therapy bills), I think he's mostly going to have a pass this month. However, if I do come across some purple stuff (even just a plain dark purple t-shirt), I'll add it to his clothing roster.

This week we will be hitting both Chinatown (last week was just too cold to attempt it) and I will be attending the Free Night at the Art Institute on Thursday.

I really wanted to end this post by sharing some of my favorite purple themed songs with you.  Sadly, I can not force the web gods to allow me to do as I please.  Perhaps if I appease them, they will soon allow me to share the goodness that is purple themed songs.

The end (for now).

Feeling Orange but Sometimes Blue (A January Recap)

As I mentioned before, January's activities was a lovely expression of this project. I really liked the orange. I really liked the Hip Hop (although I noticed that the music made me feel a bit more "bad ass" and slightly more aggressive). Max liked Hip Hop. (WE LOVED THE DANCING!) He has a lot of orange clothes. However, he's completely confused when it comes to the letters. He pretty much thinks every letter is "B". ;)

I tried to go back to the roots of the project and right an entry about each category. However, I just couldn't come up with anything clever to write about rectangles. So, rectangles were largely overlooked. Which is a shame, because I never had any against rectangles.

Finally, I realized that I'm consistently awful with the new habits. I was drinking SO much water (probably well over the 8 cups a day), until it was what I was SUPPOSED to do. I'm going to explore this much more in the coming months.

This month got a bit off track due to a little unexpected trauma. In contrast to the last few months, I'm hoping February will be calm.

H and I = HI!

H and I = HI!, originally uploaded by artinlifeproject.