From a blank piece of paper...to a work of art!

For the last month or so, Mya has loved coloring on printed coloring pages.  Nearly everyday, just after breakfast...and then again just after lunch...she asks to color.  Once I have her all set up to color, I then hear, "Mommy color, too, please?!!" 

I like to let her color on her own (so I can secretly watch her coloring skills and creativity get better and better each day)...but even more so, I love to sit closely beside her, grab a crayon, and color right along with her.  We chat.  We share crayons.  We decided who's gonna color what and where.  I know in the scheme of things, this small phase of coloring together, side-by-side, will only be for a few short years.  

I cherish these moments.  

These small moments remind me to stop what I'm doing...in the midst of the busyness of life...and play or color or read to Mya.

I have a whole stash of extra coloring pages...ones of flowers, teddy bears, baby Jesus...from back when I was a MOPS teacher for our church's outreach a couple of years ago.  Each time, I would save the extra coloring pictures and add them to my stash...because I never felt like I should just throw them away.  I always wondered if I'd ever ACTUALLY use them up...and now Mya's slowly going through a couple of pictures each day, and the pile of coloring pages is diminishing.  

In this last month, she's started to pay more attention to coloring slowly and to trying to stay inside the lines better.  These simple skills are so challenging and yet so fun to watch in kids.  I love to see her learn and grow each day.  And, I love to see her feel good about herself when she accomplishes something for the first time.  As a parent, babysitter, teacher...we accomplish something, too, in those moments, don't we?!  

And...just when she was starting to color better INSIDE the lines, the preschool teacher came out of me, and I wanted to do something different with her.  After watching Mya color a kite picture with a brilliant shade of blue, I asked her if she wanted to try to draw a picture on her own.  A picture with NO LINES to color in.  A picture that SHE COULD CREATE on her own.  I wanted to see what she would do...and where her imagination would take her.  Her eyes lit up...She was excited for this new opportunity.  (Flash back:  Earlier in the week, Brandon and I had dentist appointments and took Mya with us.  Our dentist has a chalkboard wall in the waiting room.  Mya walked right over, grabbed a piece of chalk, drew a large circle and a few other lines and squiggles, and proclaimed, "Daddy!"  Whoa, this was the first time she did this.  My mind went back to this moment in our dentist's office, and our coloring activity proceeded in this way....)

I handed her a blank piece of white paper.  

Our conversation went something like this...
"What do you wanna draw, Mya?"  
"Daddy."  
"Does Daddy have eyes?"
"Yes." 
"Do you wanna draw some eyes on Daddy?"
"Yeah."
"Who else are you gonna draw?"
"You, Mommy."
"Okay.  What else are you drawing?"
"A hat.  Mommy's hat."
"I love it.  Do you think you should draw Mya, too?"
"Yes."  
"Tell me what you drew."
"Mya doing the chicken dance." (She proclaimed this with a huge grin.)

Here's her finished product:



My heart melted.  I realized in this moment that she {we} entered a new phase.  As a preschool teacher (prior to becoming a mom), I couldn't WAIT until this moment with my future children.  I always loved working with my preschoolers on drawing and coloring and painting and watching them create masterpieces.  But, my most favorite part was asking them to tell me all about their creation.  I would ask them questions, and their little fingers would point to different parts on the picture, and they'd go into (sometimes great) detail about what they'd accomplished.  

A simple task...like coloring, drawing with a pencil, painting...is such an important part of our development.  It's amazing that in the simplest of things, we can build skills and develop into the  person God wants us to be.  Some of us turn out to be good artists.  Some of us develop into skills musicians or excellent public speakers.  Some of us are great at working with the elderly, the physically handicapped, or the tiniest of babies.  We were all created to serve a different purpose.  

I love to see that in this instance...where Mya created her first family picture masterpiece...that this skill of drawing could become something she really loves to do.  I love that she can become whatever she wants to be.  I love that she will continue to learn and try new things (sometimes excelling...sometimes failing)...and each skill will mold and shape her into the girl, teenager, and young lady that God wants her to be.