Someone please buy me a couple of shots of Starbucks coffee. And after I've imbibed, please pat me on the shoulder and tell me that I'm not stupid.
Here's the story.
I'm watching Kylie play as I read "What to Expect-The Toddler Years". In particular, I read that between the time a child is 14 and 15 months, they "will probably be able to"..... scribble.
And I think, "Oh my goodness! I've not even introduced Kylie to scribbling".
But hey. I'm prepared. I have paper. I have washable markers. I have the time and energy (just not much sense).
I plop Kylie down, put paper in front of her, pull the cap off a marker and draw a bit on the back of her paper. All the while, instructing her on how fun it is to draw. Then I hand her the marker.
She immediately grabs the marker head with her hands. Then looks at the blue stuff coating her hands and begins to wipe it on her brand new shirt! and my favorite pair of her pants.
I quickly turn the marker down towards the paper. She marks a few lines and then does the same thing. Hands on marker tip and then the wiping on her clothes. I groan and try to take the marker from her. She quickly surrenders it but then grabs another and pops the top off. I'm quickly trying to gather all the markers away from her. And at the same time, I'm encouraging her to actually scribble something on the page to make this entire fiasco worthwhile.
And, you are going to love this, I'm also trying to take pictures.
Heaven help me.
My baby is covering her clothes with markers and I'm telling her out loud that her Mommy can be quite careless sometimes and to please forgive me. Then I scour her hands with soap and take her clothes off.
All of this happened in the space of about 15 minutes but I felt like the top of my head had exploded.
So, let me ask you folks.
1. Does your little one scribble? If so, at what age did you introduce it?
2. Do you strip them down naked for scribbling time?
3. How the heck do you control the madness?
4. Do you make rookie mom mistakes too? (Please say yes.)
"Stupid scribbling? Did I just hear you mumble 'stupid scribbling'? Does this mean you aren't going to frame this?"
16 comments:
Perhaps it's a bit early for markers? Crayons or sidewalk chalk might help control the madness. I have not been so brave. My house will never be the same. :)
Funny post! M&J tried crayons at a restaurant last week but all they wanted to do was eat and throw them.
This was a cute post. I don't even remember when our little darlings started scribbling, but I'm pretty sure it was older than Kylie is. She sounds dead on developmentally for mischief and experimentation. Oh, and as for rookie mistakes, I still make them pretty much every day. I can't believe how much she's growing up!
markers, washable or otherwise are not encouraged in our house till they have passed the 'tagging' stage. We use coloured pencils, they make toddler friendly ones about the size of a crayon that make good marks (the pencil ones are too faint). My toddler loves scribbling but the markers are for his older sisters only....and I learnt the hard way too as a first time parent as clothes, furniture and the wall can attest too..LOL
Ps. I am a bit of a lurker on your blog cos I love your scapbooking pages
moments like this are so priceless. Stores sell certain markers that only write on special paper that are sold as a package.
I love them no messy hands or mess to clean. Theay are geart for toddlers.
Moments like this are priceless I accidently left out an ink pen ad my son got a hold of it and scribbled all over the walls.There this thing on the market made by crayola that come with special markrs and paper. The markers olny write on that paper. I love it. No messy hands to clean or clothes.
Funny! My Goddaugter is the same age as Kylie and I tried to get a first scribble for her parents. I had shown her some crayons about a month ago and ahe was only intersted in eating them! I bought them back out the other day, and we had some success we ended up with a few scribbles but she is still interested in eating them.
Don't worry about her development though, she seems to be on target,(out comes the Occupational Therapist in me!) she may not grasp the concept of why she should be scribbling. I am sure you will have lots more fun and beautiful drawings ahead.
Oh my goodness this had my laughing! You are a brave woman, there is no way Thaya is getting markers until 18 mo or older!
Thaya LOVES pens - she sees us writing with them and she wants her turn! We found crayons that are in a pen shape that have a tip that can be twisted up or down. Also, colored pencils (she doesn't like the fat crayons or pencils - just the thin).
If you do crayons or colored pencils, let me suggest that you do it on a hard floor with a whole lot of newspaper spread out or else you are going to be scrubbing crayon off of your hard wood floors for ever (not that I learned this from experience or anything). We also have an easle for her where we let her use chalk or crayons on the paper part. Chalk can get messy too, but at least less so than markers :)
And don't forget, there is always the Buddha Board!
1. Does your little one scribble? If so, at what age did you introduce it?
Yes. We introduced paints and crayons early on. Before 1. But only now does she *really* get it. She loves to scribble with crayons. We don't have much luck with markers--they usually end up everywhere else.
2. Do you strip them down naked for scribbling time?
No. They are all washable. Let me tell you that a purple crayon went through the wash and dry cycle and ruined our clothes. I covered the clothes with stain remover and washed them on the sanitization cycle and it all came out. They are washable. I only cover her in a craft bib for paint.
3. How the heck do you control the madness?
With markers, I only let her sit in her highchair because she colours everywhere but the paper. I prefer crayons. She sits at her craft table and colours. I don't care if she misses the paper that way. But you have to watch them because she will eat the crayons (I had to fish out blue crayon out of her mouth) and sometimes colour elswhere.
4. Do you make rookie mom mistakes too? (Please say yes.)
Sure. I left her colouring while I quickly switched laundry loads and she had a mouthful of crayon when I got back and crayon under her chin. :P When she was younger, I let her paint on paper on the floor but the paper moved and it got everywhere.
I have to commend your bravery. My first thought from viewing the picture, was that you were going to say she got to all over the carpet. :)
I believe that Ethan was at least in the 18 month range when we introduced markers at home (I know that they did so a lot earlier at daycare). We also have the markers that are invisible until you write on the special paper. It isn't quite the same effect, but it gives them the idea.
In order to "color" as Ethan calls it, we have rules. He has to be sitting down at the kitchen table and has to color on the paper. Since Kylie isn't tall enough for the table yet, her highchair sounds like a good idea.
Good luck. I know that we will keep trying with the "real thing" as time goes on. Actual crayons aren't too exciting right now because he doesn't push hard enough to really do much. I guess the crayons of our past, are the markers of now.
Try the washable crayons. They really do wipe up off floors and such and generally don't mess up new and fun clothes! My son started scribbling around 15 months and he LOVES to draw now. But we stuck with the crayons for a while. Also I bought him a little table that was just his size so he had a little desk to write on. That helped to save the floors. Good luck!
one word. PENCIL. heh...
Babycenter.com update said they can scribble. I tried, too. With a pen. During church! I held his hand and scribbled. He tried it a couple times and made a line, but then started writing on his knee. His bday is 4/27/07. Kylie is normal! :) This is the first thing that he's ever not done "on time" I didn't like it. :)
I started K. on crayons at 13 months. At first she had no use for them but now at 16 months she loves "coloring." We use the Crayola washable to contain the mess and so far they have come out of everything.
I have a 20 month old and she still tries to eat crayons on occassion. I let her use washable markers but only if she's sitting in her high chair. We love the color wonder markers and finger paints. In the last 2-3 months she has really started to like coloring and probably more so in the last month where she actually asks to color. We also tried playdough about 3-4 months ago with no interest. However, in the last 2 weeks I re-introduced it and she really enjoyed it. Good luck and keep those wipes handy!
Too cute!! I think I would stick to the colored pencils and crayons till she is a bit older. How fun for her though!!!
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