Its by my very favourite artist, my daughter Chloe :) I picked one of her pieces with lots of bold colours in it so it would tie into the adjacent living room.

You should have seen Chloe's face when I told her to look for the surprise in the hallway and she spotted her art. "That's my painting, Mommy!" she said with the biggest smile on her face. It was an expression I'd never seen before - pride. Pride in something she alone created and realizing it was special because now it was in a frame and looked important. It surprised me. 

We have Chloe's art hung up all over the walls in her playroom, but this simple act of giving her art prominence and putting it one of the "adult" spaces of the house really demonstrated to me how much our little ones look to us for cues on their self worth. Do we make them feel special, loved, appreciated? Do we recognize their talents? Do we take notice when they accomplish things? I don't want Chloe to be a prideful child, but I do want her to know that she can do things and contribute, that she has talents. I admit that I probably don't do that enough - there's probably more rule-reminding and tantrum-subduing around here these days than there is pat-on-the-backing. But now I have a reminder, right there in my hallway.

Go create some more Chloe! I have more frames to fill.