Unstoppable project doer

When I quit my job a year ago to be a full-time mom, I had all sorts of plans to make fiction and nonfiction books with Nicole to teach and inspire her.  I was excited that she had left the toddler years, that she was beginning to draw competently, and that we could start being creative together.  Well, this past year didn't go quite as planned.  We did end up making about one fiction book together, half of a nonfiction book, and one book about our family vacation.  But that didn't stop Nicole from making many books on her own this year.  After we made the book about our family vacation, she has been endlessly cutting out tiny, irregular pages, drawing pictures, and writing interesting, um, "plots."  Gradually, her plots have gained slightly more cohesion.

One of her better plots was from around February.  She illustrated it independently, and then told me what the pictures were about.  1)  Nicole, Daddy, Mommy; 2)  We're climbing up a mountain; 3)  I'm sleeping under the stars; 4)  Mommy's still sleeping in the morning.  (Haha.)

A couple weeks ago, I found a book she had made, and I think it's my favorite.  It went something like this:

Sune sticr bc (sunny sticker book)

Cockadoodledoo (or some inventive spelling of that)

Boom
The flowers are booming

Is the sun brite

Yes!  The sun is brite

This is a shark she drew a few weeks ago that I thought was well done.

So, this morning, I told Nicole it was the first day of fall.  Excited, she immediately decided she was going to do a "fall project."  She asked me for a plate.  Distracted with making breakfast, I gave one to her, not expecting this to be the start of her "project."  She spread peanut butter on it, then arranged craisins and pretzels on it.  She needed another medium, so I suggested she use the rest of her cereal.  Below is what she came up with.  It's such a pleasure to see her create - and it's so nice that, in the absence of any planning on my part, she is now the planner, the executor, and the participant in her art projects.  I'm glad she's growing up!