(Belated) Photo Tuesday
September 8, 2010 at 4:14 pm | Posted in Lollipop, Photo Tuesday | 18 CommentsTags: Children, Growing Up, Imagination, Life, Milestones, Motherhood, Relationships, Writing
My Lollipop is a child obsessed
with writing her name.
On white paper and construction paper,
on receipts and grocery lists and magazine covers.
In pencil and pen and markers called
Rain Drop Blue and Copper Penny.
I watch her concentrate on the letters,
the combination of sticks and circles and half-moons
that she knows belong only to her.
I watch my little girl writing and I see all the stories
in her mind just waiting to spill onto the page,
like the syrup for her waffles.
Her letters are beginner hieroglyphs,
each one carefully constructed to stand for
something big, something important: Identity.
Her identity. And each letter is a symbol, a sign,
not just of who she is and how much she has grown,
But of the life she will write for herself.
What milestones have meant as much to you as they have to your child? What’s made you realize that your child is charting her own life course — and that sometimes you’re just along for the ride? What’s your favorite marker color?
+++
See more signs at Beth’s place on Thursday.
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I have a similar You Capture coming up in terms of signs of growing up, but your daughter beginning to write, that is a wonderful and amazing sign. Clever post and words.
Comment by Aging Mommy— September 8, 2010 #
Beautiful post. Mr3 is just getting to grips with the idea that a particular combination of letters are all about him. He’s very excited!
Comment by lifeinapinkfibro— September 8, 2010 #
My kids’ drawings, and dictating what they say about them, has always made me happy!
Don’t be at all alarmed if your boys write much later that Lollipop, same with drawing representational pictures. Boys usually do lots of this from 4-5 years.
Comment by Leslie— September 8, 2010 #
This is lovely. Raindrop blue and copper penny. Yummy, and so evocative. (Makes me want more little ones around!)
Comment by BigLittleWolf— September 9, 2010 #
I love this. My daughter is obsessed with writing her name as well. She spells each letter out and asks me if she is doing it right. It is so refreshing to see a young child so enamored by her name.
Comment by rudrip— September 9, 2010 #
I love the exploration of writing. My daughter now writes a series of letter, “Mommy, what does D P C L O B spell?”.
All the language discoveries seem miraculous to me. One of mine is just learning that words she says get her point across (think no and milk) and the other is learning to read. Amazing.
Comment by Kate— September 9, 2010 #
Creating art has alwasy been a form of expression for Cappers. She loves it to bits. Her favourite marker colour is blue. x
Comment by Maxabella— September 9, 2010 #
“Her identity. And each letter is a symbol, a sign,
not just of who she is and how much she has grown,
But of the life she will write for herself.”
My favorite part. Isn’t it amazing that this little girl will one day pen her own stories and have her version of the tale in your family? That seems so surreal now but once they have a voice and the means in which to record them – watch out world! And watch out, our dear heart.
Comment by Justine— September 9, 2010 #
Sweet. I have a little box of “Corinne”s that are written in marker and crayon and then cut out around their shape. She used to make piles and piles of them. Lately, she’s been cutting the words apart and then putting them together and singing along: “Cor. Inne. CORINNE. B. Ook. BOOK!” It’s AMAZING.
Comment by tracey— September 9, 2010 #
Pixie has been into writing her name a lot lately. I love to see it too. It is SUCH a milestone, isn’t it? The beginning of so many things, hopefully the love of writing and reading being two of them.
Midnight Blue is my all-time favorite Crayola color. Pixie is a fan of purple.
Comment by justmakingourway— September 9, 2010 #
Beautiful poem. I love that stage where they begin obsessing over their names and words. You are right that it is the beginning of their “owning” their identity, and learning to express themselves and form a voice. I agree that maybe that is when I felt my son was “taking off” on his own, in a really good way…also, I feel that when I see him with his friends. He’s developed relationships outside of our family of 3, and that too signals to me that he is becoming his own little person.
Comment by Cecilia— September 9, 2010 #
Learning to write her own name is such a big step! I love the wobbly letters created by new writers. My five year’s old signature is a hilarious treasure, with all the crazy letters.
Comment by Mrs.Mayhem— September 9, 2010 #
I have the largest memory of my daughter learning to write her name and the celebratory dinner we had the night she first accomplished it. We had take-out for dinner and her father made a toast: “You’ve entered the world where the possibilities are limitless.”
I loved that.
Comment by rebecca @ altared spaces— September 9, 2010 #
I suppose, since my son started school tomorrow, that I hope that school will have the same joy for him as it had for me, and that September will always bring warm, happy feelings. But if there is anything I’ve learned about parenting, it’s that they chart their own course and it’s almost futile to expect different. I get all wrapped up in moments that I think should be momentous and to him they are just another day…and then he catches me by surprise with moments that he thinks are momentous, and are otherwise random to me.
Comment by Christine— September 10, 2010 #
Gorgeous.
Comment by Aidan Donnelley Rowley @ Ivy League Insecurities— September 10, 2010 #
When my daughter was tiny, she always insisted on “signing” my credit card receipts. One day she did it, and I realized that she had actually written her name! I was totally blown away.
Comment by Mama Zen— September 10, 2010 #
What a wonderful post. I love your poem about her growing identity and the idea of stories waiting to spill onto the page. Beautiful.
Mine is here: http://razzamadazzle.wordpress.com/2010/09/09/signs/
Comment by Teresa— September 11, 2010 #
I love that children (at this age) don’t let up they keep trying and trying… practicing until they get it right!
My eldest daughter just recently perfected the cartwheel she did it a million times.
The two babies are learning to sit like big girls it is the cuteist to see them sit down only to get back up and sit again cute!
My son actually still ‘signs’ my books and pages. I think of him as a star in making LOL
favourite marker will always be purple
Comment by kidfriendlyja— September 14, 2010 #