I've truly enjoyed blogging because it is my way to take advantage of my passion for writing. I had never imagined that Micah may have enjoyed writing as well, that is not until recently...when he used a pencil to write all over our apartment's front door. Micah definitely enjoys writing. Just like his ability to find a binkie (woohoo, 3 weeks clean!), Micah can find a pencil or pen from anywhere.
Most times, he looks for paper or he writes on cardboard boxes, but last night, he decided that the door was the perfect canvas for his writing.
As much as I was irritated seeing this, I was happy to see that he enjoyed writing too. Call it a proud mommy moment :)
As you know, Micah does nothing when I would like him to - he does everything in his own time and in his own way (quite an admirable quality). But he is extremely interested in observing the things that I do and then trying to repeat in his own time.
For instance, when we were at Wal-Mart yesterday, they were having Baby Days. In the Site to Store section, they had a number of baby products on clearance (I stocked up, of course!) and had paper and crayons for the kids to color. Micah would not touch anything (big shocker!), but sat and watched me color with such intensity. At first, I was only coloring to get him involved, but then I kept on because of his focus on the picture. Every time I tried to stop, he would just yell, "Mama!"
Here is the end result:
Which in turn led him to do this last night...
Like I said...in his own time and his own way :)
This will be my chance to try out the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser though! LOL
Every now and then, I keep up on Micah's milestones on BabyCenter...I am a first-time mom, I still do silly things like this.
In terms of writing, Baby Center indicated the following timeframes. I definitely think that Micah is right on target with his milestones.
12 to 18 monthsOver the last several months of his first year, your child's fine motor skills improved steadily. Now he's physically ready to grab hold of a crayon and start experimenting. At 12 or 13 months, some toddlers are already able to scribble vigorously, while others start tentatively (they'll drag a crayon around on paper, scrawling inadvertently). If yours takes longer, that's fine, too. Children develop at different rates, some faster than others. By around 16 months, your little one will probably be a scribbling pro, creating a gallery's worth of drawings for the refrigerator.
19 to 25 months
Your toddler's scribbles will start taking discernible shape now, though he doesn't yet form letters and numbers — he can't hold a writing implement steadily enough yet for that. But he's become enthralled by anything he can draw with — crayons, pens, and colored pencils. Beware, this is prime time for crayon scribbles on the wall. And he's probably starting to spend longer on each individual drawing now, covering more of the paper rather than making a single swirl. Draw a single line and he can easily imitate it, though it may not be very straight.
If writing turns out to be his thing, I will definitely like to support, encourage and cultivate that talent. I was reading an article on the PBS website about how to do just this...I hope to incorporate some of these tips as Micah gets older.
Here's a video of Micah writing away on my bank statement...
In the end, I would love to see that Micah has a true passion for writing, just like me. I've always had the passion, just not the focus. Blogging has allowed me to gather my focus and discuss something that I am so passionate about -- motherhood. I hope that Micah is able to do the same.
