Forcing the Issue

My long delay in the Forcing the Issue post was not to create anticipation or cause a stir.  We have just been busy busy (more in upcoming posts :).

In preparation for today's 18 month well baby Dr. visit, I began looking at 18 month milestones, just to see how Ben was tracking.  After consulting several sources, the one area that seemed most lacking was scribbling.  Yep, coloring with a crayon:).  Ben had received a wonderful giant coloring book and easy to hold crayon set from Peter for his birthday but showed little interest the first couple times we tried it in Wichita.  Because that's where that wonderful gift still resides, we hadn't tried his hand at the task again.  

Well, the Valentine's cupid brought Ben some crayons and a Thomas coloring book and unfortunately, there was still little interest.  It took me much longer to tape newspaper to Nana's granite than the whole attempted coloring experience (and we tried twice.)  Ben did like to dot, dot, dot the crayons but there was little back and forth motion.  He also liked to eat the crayons and that is what inevitably led to the end of the coloring.  We will keep trying once a week or so, but so far I would say the artist part of Ben has yet to bud.

As for me, yes, I learned something too......not to force the issue.  In fact, our new pediatrician has a great milestone tracking tool that groups skills into larger categories so Ben can be a non-scribbler but still be strong in the overall category.  A good reminder for Mama to stay aware but also not to Force the Issue.