Have to brag

I know I have mentioned my concern over Cecilia's fine motor skills several times. I always thought it was interesting that she was not very interested in coloring and such, but for a long time I did not think much of it. Then when she started school this year, and I saw what some of the girls in her class were doing, I started getting a little concerned. I know all kids develop differently and all, but some of the other kids drawings were leaps and bounds better than hers. I did not ever think she had major problems, I just felt like we really needed to step it up and really encourage her to do more (esp with kindergarten right around the corner!). I had several strategies to do this, and my first was way wrong, as I had mentioned. I tried sitting with her more, and tried to get her to really "draw" and make lines and such, and she was just not interested/ready, and we both ended up frustrated. So I decided to completely change my approach and my new goals were to make it fun, have no rules (within reason), and come up with activities that she is using her fine motor skills without her even really realizing it. All in hopes, that her skills would get better on their own, her confidence would grow, and in turn she would want and be ready for the more academic types of activities.

So this picture came home with her from school this week. I took one look at it and admittedly instantly thought "1) Boy, her teacher really helped her with this one! or 2) This must be some other child's work." She always comes home with so much stuff that I do not keep it all - I usually keep the really cute/good stuff. And since I did not think she did this on her own (or if it was even hers), it was going to go to the trash. Then, I got an email from her teacher about something else, and she mentioned that Cecilia, not only did it all by herself, but that she was one of the few in her class that could!!! I knew she has made significant improvement, but this really impressed me! I was so happy that I got tears in my eyes!!! So of course, it is currently mounted on our refrigerator! So proud!

Notice she did not only have to connect the dots,
she also had to follow the numbers!