Oh, you'll like Gwen...SHE'S an ARTIST

Anyone catch that quote?  Heh heh...I may not be born a Johnson, but living with one for over a decade can rub off on you!

Not the point...my point was that Gwen has become quite the little artist.  I guess I was correct in saying that she really wanted paper for Christmas.  Reams of it if she could.  But she also likes notebooks, the smaller the better.  She got a drawing pad as one of her gifts...80 pages.  I gave it to her for a car ride and she is down to under 10 pages of unused pages.  And she doesn't just make one thing...she makes a picture.  Some of them are actually journal entries.  Those are a little tough for me because while she is getting really good practice writing her letters, she isn't picking up on spelling.  When she gets to Kindergarten, I'm glad they will be teaching brave spelling because she could really use that now.  But now, she knows that words are made from letters, and she wants them to be correct so I am the one that has to spell everything out for her. 

Some of her ideas of what to draw and then write out are:  yes - its not too early to be thinking about her Christmas list!  I guess she doesn't understand that she could also make her own birthday list, since her birthday comes before Christmas, but she likes to draw something out and then write what it is in case Santa can't tell.  Ah, I will say that she now knows how to spell the word "doll" very well.  Doesn't matter if it is an actual toy, any movie or TV character, she will draw a picture of them and say that it is a doll and then ask for it.  She also likes to make menus and take orders.  Sometimes this is just pictures, but sometimes she does ask how to spell things.  She likes to write down lyrics to her favorite songs.  She draws a lot of family pictures or pictures of just one member of her family.  If it is a family picture, we usually are all carrying something similar.  One day I think it was a flower. 

She does also like to pain with watercolors and draw with crayons or markers.  I like how she doesn't always have to do one or the other.  She likes to color in coloring books but also on blank pieces of paper. 

Unfortunately, there is a significant problem that I did not see coming with this artistic ability.  When Trevor was around 3, (it could have been earlier, I cannot remember exactly) I know he went through a phase where he wanted to draw/scribble on anything.  Tables, walls, in books, etc.  I knew I had to get him to understand where they belonged and did not belong.  But he grew out of it and it didn't really happen again.  So far, he never had any big issues with scissors either...cutting things he wasn't supposed to and the like.  Now Gwen didn't really do that...the scribbling on stuff I mean.  I guess it wasn't as though she NEVER did it.  I know she liked to "paint" her fingernails with markers and sometimes the insides of her hands, and even the table occasionally but it wasn't anything really noteworthy.  But within the past month, she has just gone crazy with the drawing on everything.  I allow her to write whatever she wants on her calendar, because she has her own.  She often asks for help spelling whatever she wants.  Last month she copied her preschool calendar to write down which of her classmates had the sharing box....and then scribbled all over it.  But now, she won't stop at her own.  And she knows she isn't supposed to because she drew on one date of my calendar before I asked her to stop, and this month she drew a square around the month of my calendar without me seeing.  Her calendar already has many small drawings all over it. 

Our dining room wall has many pencil marks (and yes, I am thankful that almost all of the current markings that are going on are pencil so it could be much worse) including some drawings and letters.  One day I let her take her journal up to her room during rest time, but I guess that was a mistake because her door, calendar and toy chest now are written on, all over.  At least at her eye level.  She must have so much to say and express....my little artist.  But I'm really struggling with how much of it to keep.  She doesn't seem to mind, as long as she doesn't see me recycling her papers.  I do hope she continues the love of writing and drawing.  But I guess what mother wouldn't.