Concentrated Luke

At the beginning of the summer I bought a couple of coloring books for Luke from the Dover Publishing Company. I wanted him to work on neatness - he typically hurries and is quite sloppy. He picked one with airplanes and I picked one with geometric patterns.

He hasn't colored any pictures in the airplane book yet - I think it's a little too complicated and he wants it to be just right (he's a perfectionist who is afraid to try things if he thinks he won't do it right the first time). I didn't push him to do any pages in it since it will require a bit more small motor skill first. However, he LOVES the book I picked (score one for Mom). It is all geometric patterns that mostly use squares and triangles. He's made some really colorful pictures and improved quite a bit with staying in the lines. When we first got the books I emphasized that these were special coloring books and he had to do his best work in them. I showed him how to outline a box first and then how much easier it is to fill the rest in without going out of the lines. He resisted my technique at first (of COURSE he knew how to be neat!) but after he tried it he proudly showed me how much neater he could be. Hmm. I guess I do know a few things after all. Score 2 for Mom!

He's pretty funny to watch when he is really working hard. He often has his tongue hanging out. I wanted to get a few pictures of him without him being self-conscious about me taking them. It was harder than I anticipated to get a good one of the tongue, especially after he saw me and started talking to me.


Here's a little of it.

Finally used the zoom and got a good one.

He was being goofy here, but I thought it was cute.

He uses colored pencils in this book since he's discovered that it is easier to be neat with a nice point. We bought a little battery operated pencil sharpener and he learned how to sharpen his own pencils - and then use them gently without breaking the nice new point!

If the tongue isn't hanging out, this is the other thing he does.

And as long as we're talking art here, here's the latest baby blanket I finished. Pink for new baby Josephine, new daughter of my friend from grade school. It took a lot longer to make than I thought it would when it started, but I was satisfied with the result.