Monday's Muse: pint-sized inspiration

One of the reasons I enjoy participating in Monday's Muse is because it warms up the muse muscle in my brain. Just today, as I tried to think of something to write for this, my muse was summoned but decided to drift right outside of my reach. Since my muse is often naughty and evasive I thought I would write this one without her. :P

As a writer, and a well-rounded creative person, when something doesn't come to me then I have to look at things that happen in everyday life to get a little inspiration. For this week, my muse is my 4-year-old daughter Amareah. She's my third child and my second daughter, and she is one of the most creative, talented and fearless individuals that I know.

She climbs trees as if she was born to do it. Well, I admit it's genetics: I was a girly tomboy who climbed trees, played with worms and beat up little boys. Her artwork is colorful and normally carefully executed. She says she wants to be a "cooker" and often bugs to help in the kitchen. I recently wrote about how I'm trying to nurture that desire in her at my From Toddlers2Teens blog. And, most recently, she has decided she likes to take pictures. With.my.digital.camera. For some reason, even if I say just take one picture she walks away (as I wince hoping she doesn't drop the camera) and comes back with 10 pictures.

Here is a sampling of her photographic skills...

You remember that little boy, right? He's Andre, my only son.

I actually love her pictures. When I saw the first few she took (I'll spare you the broken ceiling fan and an up close shot of her nose and teeth), I did a little wince/laugh. "Oh, Amareah, you're silly!" And we laughed together.

Then as I kept scrolling through I began to tell her how good her photos were and praised her for being so creative. And... we laughed some more.

This week she is my inspiration and muse because she's like the Nike slogan, "Just Do It" and if I would take that approach to a lot of things I'm working on then they would be complete by now. When she gets home from school I plan on showing her this post and letting her know how proud I am of her. She's my pint-sized inspiration.