SUSIE MALLETT

My visitors today

Wednesday 9 May 2012

A sunny ride home


'That is me. Everyone says so.'


Little Princess made me smile all the way home!

She was so sweet today.

Littlie finished making her Mother’s Day present last Friday so when one of the other children went over to the cupboard this afternoon to get drawing paper she asked for some too.

It was a real treat to see these two children communicating so well,. Without our intervention both of them soon had a supply of coloured pencils and paper in front of them and they got on with their drawings while we helped the rest get their presents finished in time for Sunday, Mothering Sunday.

Both of the artists produced wonderful pictures. Little Princess’s helpful friend has never drawn a picture without destroying it after a few strokes. She often angrily screws the paper in to a ball or erases everything that she has drawn in frustration. There was none of this today and before we went home we hung her fairytale-castle picture on the door for all visitors and passers-by to see.

Beavering away

Little Princess was beavering away too, all alone at the end of the table.

Drawing, painting and being creative in many other ways are activities that this severely physically disabled little girl has learnt extremely well. During seven years’ working with me, the artist and art therapist conductor, she certainly has had plenty of opportunities to practice!

It is a special joy for me to see her getting on with it on her own just as it to see her more able friend helping out, being really jolly and enjoying her own creativity for once.


Knowing herself, as others know her

Before I knew it Littlie had drawn a gorgeous picture of the sun with a huge smile. She often draws the sun and sometimes a rainbow but these are usually very small, squeezed in a corner of her paper.

Today’s sun filled the page, although she had left just enough space to add a few words, something quite unusual in her drawings. She wrote –

‘Das bin ich’, That is me!

I said, ‘Yes, you certainly are our ray of sunshine!’

Then she wrote some more, ‘Sagen Alle’ Says everyone!

Yes, she is right we do all say that! She really is a ray of sunshine in the lives of many people, especially when she produces pictures like this one!

I was thrilled with it. I asked her whether she wanted to give it to someone special. thinking that she would want to give it too her Mum. 

How wrong could I be.

 ‘No’, she answered, loud and clear, and there came a big nod in reply when I asked – ‘Do you want to keep it for yourself?’

I have a supply of old frames in the cupboard, donated at some point long ago to the arty conductor. So I immediately fished one out and in the space of just a few minutes, my angel Évi had given the glass a wash, I had cut the paper to size and this gorgeous, spontaneous drawing was in a golden frame and had become a masterpiece worth a million sunny smiles!

There was just enough space in her basket on the bike for Littlie to take it home immediately, but not before I snapped a photograph!

This was a moment that will never be forgotten, a moment that produced a sunny journey home for us all despite the looming black storm-clouds in the distance.

What joy it must give Littlie too to be able to say with such confidence – ‘That’s me, that big smiley sun, and everyone else says so too!’

1 comment:

Kasey Gray said...

Little Princess is a ray of sunshine, even from across an ocean!