Blessings With Little Man

On Sunday, my beloved was helping the little ones paint Valentines to
give to others. They loved it. It was so fun to watch as he helped
them. I am so besotted with that man! After they were done, the
paintings were hung up to dry to be signed later.

One painting that Little Man did was a large red heart for his Daddy. I
drew the heart for him on his art paper. Using a round foam dauber,
like those used for stenciling, he pounced the paint onto the drawn
outline. At first, I use the hand-over-hand technique to show him what
to do. I then release his hand and he continued pouncing paint on the
outline. Next, he paints the inside of the heart. He is very
meticulous and fills in the area completely.

After his painting was dry, I wrote "I Love You Daddy" on it. He
watched closely and I then placed the fine-tipped marker I was using
into his hand. I again used the hand over hand technique to begin
guiding him to write his name. Little Man has never been taught to
write letters up to this point. I was focusing on getting him used to
handling paint brushes and watercolor markers first by doing free form
coloring and painting. As we wrote the first 3 of 5 letters in his
name, he was very receptive. Then, I felt him take more control of the
marker and I gently held his hand just enough to prevent him from
dropping the marker. He lowered his hand slightly, about a half height
of the letters I guided him in writing, and very carefully wrote the
final 2 letters of his name. There was no guiding from my hand in what
to do. He wrote the letters correctly and very clear. What a precious
blessing! I had no idea that he knew how and what to write. He has
never written his name with guidance before, so this was all entirely new.

As with many other times in our life, I see so much of the Lord's
blessing and promise in our son. Little Man, who will be 4 yrs old in a
couple of months, still does many behaviors of a child about 12-18
months of age, yet we see these glimpses of higher levels of
intelligence. The Lord has plans for our son. In recent weeks, we have
witnessed a greater awareness of the world around him. He shows
excitement when Daddy comes home from the road each week and is upset
when he leaves out again. He gets bored and cranky if his sister is
homeschooling and I don't have tasks for him to do also. I am now
having to get preschool tasks for him to work on at the same time. He
is seeming to crave the activity.

I am learning daily that routine and structure are vital for him. On
days that we are less structured, he can become frustrated more easily.
The routine is good for us all. The trick however is in establishing a
good routine without becoming so tied to it that he doesn't learn to
cope with changes.

I'm so proud of Little Miss. As we watched her brother playing with
their Daddy, she cheered him on and gave me a big hug. She delighted in
his excitement. I explained to her that each time she plays with her
brother, she is teaching him how to play. It is in part due to her
playing with him that he is now initiating play with others. The joy
that her brother shows as he plays with their Daddy was in part due to
her being such a great big sister. She is teaching him to have fun and
how to show love through her actions towards him. She actually became
teary-eyed and told me that "God is helping him so much." I just love
it that she recognizes God's hand in this as well.