Hormiguita :)

Here is a little character that I would like you to meet today :)
Her name is Hormiguita (which means little ant in Spanish) and she doesn't bite. Guess why I had to make Hormiguita? Because my 5-year-old daughter Natalie is afraid of ants! Believe it or not Natalie sees ants as evil little creatures that want to eat people all the time. This idea started building up in her mind after one day when she got like 5 ant bites at the same time. I tried to explain her that what happened is that she was too sweet and the ants wanted to taste her, but this explanation didn't help, big mistake! Then I had to come out with some new ideas and that's how Hormiguita was born :)

When it comes to children, there is nothing better than fantasy for fixing little problems like Natalie's "ant phobia". I have been telling Natalie so many positive stories about Hormiguita and how she works really hard trying to teach her baby brothers and sisters not to bite, just the way Natalie had to teach little Diego not to bite (true story).

Little by little Natalie has started to change her mind, right now she likes Hormiguita a lot so that's a good beginning, she can say that there is one single ant in the whole world that she likes. The next perfect step would be to adopt an ant as a pet, name her and play with her everyday but this seems like impossible. Anyway, if you meet an ant that wants to volunteer as a pet for a week or two just drop me an e-mail :o In the meantime I also like Hormiguita as much as Natalie does and she has made me more aware of her tiny relatives, she made me go online and read as much as possible about her family.

Next week I will show you a whole series of little characters that I created in the Hormiguita style and I will tell you how I made them. But today I want to tell you that Mister Hubby :) is preparing a series of posts based on a diary with some photos that he created during his first trip to Havana (when we first meet). Like a week after we met (before we declared ourselves boyfriend and girlfriend) he sent me this diary with pictures as a present.

I was fascinated by this book where he wrote so many interesting things. One of the last pages included a photo or two of myself that he took in my apartment-studio on December 15 of 2000, plus a text describing what he thought about that visit. The book was his second subtle attempt to show me how interested he was in me, the first one was an e-mail that I still keep :) I also keep the hundreds of e-mails that we wrote to each other before I moved to the USA with him not too lond after we meet for the first time :)

This diary is something that I still treasure as you can imagine. One day our kids will read it and understand all the details about the circumstances in which their father came to havana and meet their mother. I still cannot believe how fast everything happened, how we got married and had two children and now I am trying to teach one of them not to be afraid of ants! Isn't life something amazing?

Now I am leaving but I cannot wait to be back tomorrow with the surprise that I have for you to see!!!!
Have a wonderful day!

Elsita :)

Comments

[tricia]

Hormiquita is wonderful! I just love how you combine different media. Is that shrink plastic for the head? Did you screenprint the legs and flower pot? I love it.

[Margaret Oomen]

I love that you are teaching such beautiful nature lessons to your children elsita. Nature only wants us to live with it and enjoy it. It doesn't want to hurt us but will sometimes have to do so to protect itself and survive this hard world we have created for it. The bite of an ant is its protection it is actually just a release of a little formic acid that "burns the skin " . A chemical defense mechanism. I wonder what would happen if humans had chemical defenses. Maybe that would be a good question for your little genius to ponder. I would love to hear her answer. I am very excited to read Bill's post today :)

[Doda]

That is so adorable. You're little girl is very blessed to have such a talented momma

[Karen Mowrey]

You are so much fun and this is way to cute. I can not wait to read of your romance and fate. Kudos to your Hubby for being so thoughtful!

[donna]

I love Hormiguita! Such a great way to deal with little issues that are not so little to our children. Your artwork is amazing - I love it! You might tell Natalie that Walt Disney was afraid of mice - and look where that took him - conquered his fears through Mickey Mouse! I must tell you that I did go to you hubby's blog yesterday and just loved it! So refreshing and inspiring - just like yours - no wonder you two are together - you just inspire and support each other in everything artistic! Have a great day!

[viv]

This is just too adorable!

[Melissa Crowe]

Ah! My little girl is afraid of ants, too, also because of a bunch of nasty bites. I am going to show her your little ant girl. She's beautiful!

[kelly]

oh, that's so cute! I was terrified of ants as a 4 y.o. girl (accidentally stood too close to a nest one time), and I think Hormiguita would have eased my fears.

you're such a great mom!

[deirdre]

I'm glad you are back and I love your husband's blog also!

[katiecrackernuts]

Great to have such storytelling happening in your home.

[andrea gutierrez]

this is so sweet...the things we do for our children :)

[lilly]

Maybe Natalie would like an ant farm! I had one as a kid, and wasn't scare of ants, quite the opposite. Once when I was about 6, I saw a nature documentary on honeypot ants, and tried to eat the bottom of a normal ant, only to discover that it wasn't filled with honey.

[janil]

Your daugheter is so lucky having an adorable mum like you... This hormiguita is really beautiful!

[Maiz]

How funny... it is the opposite at our house. My Diego (now 4) is very emotional about ants, too, but in the other direction. Sometimes he will cry if one gets stepped on. He'll say, "You're killing my friends!" There are always ants on our front steps, and he is their protector, always dramatically warning people when they are about to step on them.

[dutchbaby]

Fantastic character you created! I see a children's book in the future...