Yesterday was Day 2 of Ishu’s pre-school prep class and, boy, did he surprise me.

First of all, can we please take note of his cute shirt that his Hema Masi got him? Cousin Crew for LIFE. Can’t wait to see all the cousins (and the next generation of cousins!) in New York in less than a month!

Okay, so how did he surprise me?

Well, I’ve been going around telling everyone that my child is gonna be the child who never sits down for art. And, thank goodness they gave them a choice between open play and art, because art is just not his jam.

Well, it’s like he refuses to be put in a box. Refused to be labeled as “not the artist.” Ha.

Because, not only did he sit down for the art portion of yesterday’s class, but he stayed long after the other kids transitioned to open play. Adding more glitter and more pom-poms to his crab.

It reminds me of something that Glennon and Abby shared on their podcast, We Can Do Hard Things. I remember listening to an episode where they talk about how we categorize kids so early on in their life. “Oh, this kid is the athletic one.” Or “he’s the artist.” And so when you’re put in these boxes so early on, you live up to that and you don’t feel like you can dabble in other boxes.

So, good on Ishu for showing me that nothing is off limits for him. He can be both the curious, active toddler that wants to keep moving around. While also being the artist when he wants to be. There are no boxes for this kid. And I love that he’s constantly teaching me to stop defining him. 🙂