Exquisite Motor Skills

Okay, maybe they're just fine... but whatever they are Larkin has been very busy honing them lately. Not long ago, Larkin's art was all abstract... big blobs of bright color that were sometimes identified as specific items and sometimes not. Suddenly, she is drawing specific, recognizable things and coloring them in. Like this envelope decoration:

That second item in the row is a bed post. Seems a little out of place with the other Lucky Charms, but who am I to judge? And then there's this Mermaid Monster:
I was informed that this is a picture of a monster that Larkin and the other members of the Winx Club defeated in magical battle. Writing has been a favorite pastime lately, as well. It is still more art than "writing." She asks us to write something out for her and then she copies it herself. This is how it all began:

Larkin was writing a series of symbols that were more or less letterish and periodically asking us to read them to her. At this stage, numbers were included now and then so she would write things like "PL8": plate! We would do our best to explain how we were decoding her symbols, but it seemed like she was getting tired of writing nonsense syllables. Then she asked us to write her name on another sheet of paper for her to copy. Shortly after, she wanted to write a whole letter to Uncle Felix the same way. It hasn't arrived yet, so I'm not sure if it's legible or not. The letters were all pretty clear, but she didn't really see any need for traditional word spacing.

Larkin has also just had her second overnighter at a friend's house, this time with the fabulous Lowes. They have both gone off without a hitch... except for Finn's slight despondency at being without his favorite person. Oh, and Larkin's tendency to wake her hosts up at or before the crack of dawn. I mean, she's just so excited to be there!