Drawing & Writing

Sawyer has been doing a lot of drawing.  I has been interesting to watch him begin to create representations of creatures. 

 For many months, Sawyer has refused to draw in coloring books.  He was so concerned about drawing outside the lines that he absolutely refused.  While we were fine with it, as long as he continued to draw, we soon began to see that he was also losing confidence in his drawing.  And then it all changed.  He decided he was ready to color again and he was fairly confident that he would stay in the lines - and of course, he did.
The exact same thing happened with his writing.  He started to learn his letters last year.  Then he absolutely refused to write any letters.  We decided not to push the issue because it upset him.  Then one day it all changed.  He started writing with confidence and he could write all his letters.  No problems.  With both of these cases we are learning that he doesn't like failure, he doesn't like for people to see him struggle, and that he is very self critical.  Learning this is helping us parent accordingly - he is clearly pushing himself and he will perform when he feels confident.  It remains our job to just support him and let him tell us when he is ready for big developmental steps.

 The three little pigs' homes: