the many moods of Tess

Yesterday we were at the grocery store and a young girl, maybe 4, was having a doozy of a tantrum complete with screaming and spinning on the ground. As I drove home with the kids they asked what their tantrums were like...we had some chuckles about them. And then this morning as I sorted through the 2008 art I rediscovered a sampling of Tessa's pictures she started creating last year whenever she was angry, upset or sad. She would make the pictures and then place them around so everyone would know her mood. If you were the person she was most angry with she would place it in front of you. Mostly she used them as a way to start a conversation about what was making her angry, and it has been so much more effective than the tantrums of the past.