Da(hlia) Vinci

Dahlia's come a long way since I first introduced the Fab Four to crayons. For her, meaningless scribbles are a thing of the past, and when she puts crayon to paper (or, as is more often the case, magnetic pen to Magnadoodle), not only does she have a plan, but she also possesses the skills to execute that plan.

We first noticed her emerging talent back in April, when I found her drawing what appeared to be a bunch of balloons (note the real balloon in front of her). Based on her subsequent subjects of choice, however, I soon came to suspect that she was actually trying to depict our family:

Over the past couple of months, Dahlia has been working hard at refining her portraiture technique. First I observed her experimenting with adding hair, and more recently I noticed that she was getting better at placing facial features, such as eyes and mouth:

Not bad for a 2-year-old, huh? Still, her previous essais are nothing compared to her latest masterpiece. Yesterday, she wowed us with this picture, which she claimed was a self-portrait:

It's hard to say who was prouder, her mommy and daddy—or the artist, herself!

I'm not saying she's going to paint the Mona Lisa anytime soon, but ... maybe someday?