Gleek Doodles

“I need this mom!” said Gleek intently “It is a Doodle Journal!”
I’d already planned to buy her something from the school book fair, so saying yes would have been simple, except that she had already displayed four other items which she also desperately needed. Patch had a similar stack. I sat down on the floor with them to examine their finds. The winnowing process would have been easier if they had been less selective, but I could see how each item was perfectly suited to the child who selected it. The needs of my budget required me to force them to make hard choices, and we put some of the things back. The Klutz Doodle Journal was one of the things which came home with us. I didn’t think all that much about it. Drawing books are common fare around here.

A week later and Gleek is still carrying the Doodle Journal almost everywhere. At random moments, in the car, at dinner, mid-afternoon, she spouts bits of information about doodling “You just let your mind and your pen wander.” “Pens are great for doodling, cause there’s no erasing in doodling.” “Doodling has no mistakes, you can’t get it wrong.” I watched how Gleek grabbed her doodle book and drew an angry little picture when someone at school made her mad. She doodled during movies, on car rides, and before bed. Once when she was off doing something else, I picked up her doodle book to look at it. She loved showing us her doodles, so I knew she did not consider the book private. I thumbed through and realized that once again the folks at Klutz have demonstrated brilliance. It was full of starter doodles, idea pages, and little messages about having fun without stressing perfection. Gleek found exactly the book she needs right now. I fully intend to support her doodling by supplying a blank paged doodle book when this one runs out of space. I sort my psyche with words, Kiki uses art, Gleek now has doodles. It is good.