Friday, October 19, 2007

Drawing Lessons

One of Emma's passions in life is drawing. It started a few months ago with her asking either mom and dad to draw something for her. Neither Jeff or I are great artists, so all our people are stick figures. Just recently Emma took the pen from us and started drawing for herself. Some of her favorites are Baby Nat, Uncle Paul, Luke, Luke's Mom and Dad, Benton, and Daddy and Mom (the picture at left is titled "Daddy"). I am quite impressed with her not-yet-3-year-old talent. All her drawings have arms, legs, a mouth, eyes, and hair.
Often I am frustrated with her language skills. Her words are hard to understand and some of her words are completely different than the real thing. Although she is behind other kids her age in speech, she is improving and helps us understand what she means by using a whole bunch of expressive signs. Now she is even showing us what she is thinking by drawing. I really love watching her learn. She is creative and very perceptive. She watches and listens and then, when she knows she can do it herself, tries it. I've also realized that she is a perfectionist and many of her tantrums are because she isn't able to do something perfect. Learning what makes my child tick helps me to be a better mom.
As always, life is a learning process. Today it's stick figures, tomorrow...
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4 comments:

Lindsay said...

What a cute picture, I love it. She is definately a little artist. It is so fun to watch their talents and personalities take shape. And I can relate to the perfectionist thing with my first born as well. At least 2-3 times a week he is in tears doing his homework.....it has to be right the FIRST time!! I love what you said about being aware of what makes them tick. It helps a lot.

Have a great weekend!

~Lindsay

Jessi Reber said...

Emma sounds like a girl after my own heart...constantly frustrated due to perfectionist tendancies and better expressing oneself in ways other than words. :)

Grandma Sherri said...

Amazing!! Within weeks her skills will have surpassed mine!! She didn't get any artistic talent from me!!

Anonymous said...

Alysun,
If that is Emma at almost three her drawing skills are above average. If I was to look at it not knowing her age I would place her at five almost six. They aren't suppose to have hair or a body until then according to child development. Just wanted to put my two cents worth in. :)