Rachel can sit and draw for hours. She colored, continuously, for a half hour before bed last night. It's one of my favorite activities for her because it keeps her still and occupied for a long, long time. All I have to do is doodle along with her and that's alright with me because I still like to color.
I remember my mom coloring with me. She taught me a lot about patience that way. I'd make a few marks on the page and ask to turn it and she'd tell me that she was still working on her picture so I'd have to wait. She'd tell me to color this or draw that while I waited, so I would, and I learned that I could wait for a long time, and color every inch of a page in a coloring book.
I also remember crying to her about how David would tease me about not being able to stay in the lines and she would coach me and tell me to slow down and concentrate. I'm proud to announce that I can now stay in the lines, and that I can do almost anything I try if I just slow down and concentrate.
I learned a lot of life lessons from coloring with my mom. Perhaps I'll be able to pass those same lessons down to Rachel using the same method...
I tried using it last night to teach her about obedience.
When she was so tired that she could hardly keep her eyes open, I told her it was time to put the crayons away. Obeying was very difficult for her; she started sobbing, but put the crayons back in the box before crumpling into a heap on the ground.
I told her that we could color another day and she cheered up right away.
We'll color together lots of times on lots of different days, Rachel! I promise!
I still like coloring, too. In fact, just the other night I believe I was up til 11 pm helping Josie color a map. :o)
ReplyDeleteDo you remember your nursery teacher in Provo, Nancy? She still bought coloring books for herself, just because she liked it. You colored with her, too.
That's so cute! I saved one of her pics, and I'm going to use it on my blog... I hope it's okay.
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to exploit your child, or pass her off as my own, I just find it rather endearing... btw, this is two posts in one day, dare I say ((gasp)) do you have internet now?
She is so sweet! Growing up as we speak. I still have MY coloring books, and the kids coloring books........
ReplyDeleteThis is kind of a stupid comment, but I LOVE the picture of the crayons and tortillas. They look they could be in a magazine.
ReplyDeleteokay... how do you keep her coloring on page and not eating the crayons or coloring on the walls... thats my current issue with letting Allison color...
ReplyDeleteAw, bless her! Big crocodile tears running down her cheeks while she has to go to bed but wants to keep colouring! :)
ReplyDelete@Lauren - Thanks! We were actually going for awesome pictures of the crayons and tortillas - we got a super nice Canon DSLR camera before coming out here. We still have no idea how to use it, but we get some awesome pictures out of it sometimes :)
ReplyDelete@ Abra--Steal as many pictures as you'd like. That's why I put pictures of Rachel up--for you guys to see her.
ReplyDelete@Everyone--Why, yes, we do have internet at home now. There'll be a post about that soon.
@ Rosie--We've been working on that for months now. It doesn't happen all the time, trust me. I just would tell her constantly, "We color on PAPER not the floor. We color on PAPER, not the wall. We color on PAPER, PAPER, PAPER." After she mastered the paper thing I had to teach her that we color on THIS paper--the paper that Mommy gives you to color on, not the paper you found on the kitchen table...
As for eating the crayons...I just had to remind her that it's not something to eat. I still have to remind her sometimes. But she just loves coloring so much that she caught onto that concept really fast.
@Happy Harrisons--Thanks :) We've been experimenting
Coloring is awesome! Karen will color for hours now too... Isn't it wonderful to have something quiet for her to do? ;)
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