Quiet time and coloring

Ethan has not quite outgrown naps, but has become very reluctant towards the idea generally. So, we've had to create a new euphemism that gives me the blessed silence that I need a few hours a day, as well as calm needed to get Raina down for her own nap. Enter, "Quiet Time". Quiet time is a minimum of one hour in which Ethan has to lay in his bed and be quiet. He is allowed to look at books, or sometimes take some action figures or crayons/coloring book with him. The beauty of this plan is that the minimum one hour period usually is just enough for Ethan to go to sleep, giving me about two hours to rest while Raina sleeps. The second benefit is that, well, as a four year old, Ethan can't tell time, so an hour might be an hour and half, or a bit longer. Sometimes he lays awake, and I'll relieve him of his boredom, but most days it's....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Today, he awoke like a boy possessed. He had a late nap, but was still deeply snoozing when I came into his room. He fell asleep looking at a favorite Superman comic book, and it was laying across his chest. Ordinarily, he wakes up, maybe a little grumpy, or mostly ready to get up and play. Today he was immediately concerned about showing me picture in his comic book. His determination was strong I thought perhaps he was still in a lucid dreaming state. Finally he flipped to an image of a character, and pointed at it. "I need those colors mom. I want to color with those colors".

He made his way to the kitchen and pulled out his Spiderman coloring book. He flipped through to an uncolored page, and there was the same character as in the comic. He'd seen the guy during quiet time and remembered that he'd seen the same one in the coloring book. He insisted that I find the exact shades of blue and orange so he could imitate the art in the comic.

Coloring has been taking up a lot of his time lately. It's something he's only done now and again in the past. He could be distracted by it for a few minutes here and there. But lately, it's one of his favorite hobbies. He spent about two hours one morning coloring page after page, while I worked in the kitchen. I think perhaps the fascination with coloring is related to writing readiness. He's also started absorbing more information about his letters, and asking to practice writing more.

His resolve about coloring this character was so great, that I let him work on and finish the picture, even though I had dinner ready when he got up from his nap. Here is a photo of him working away.



Rudy on the other hand, rarely misses a meal, especially meatloaf!


Yum!