Stay in the Lines

I've known from pretty much day one that Reagan is stubborn. She has only grown more stubborn with each day and has a little spit-fire personality to go along with it. I don't think it is any secret that I have a pretty strong personality and like things a certain way...don't worry. I got my payback in the form of a sweet little girl I have the pleasure of calling my daughter:)

One of the things about Reagan that makes her unique in our family (aside from her girliness!) is the fact that she is clearly left-handed. I have to try really hard to not push her to "do it right" with her right hand, but it is really hard to show her how to do things! So far I am finding the hardest thing to help her with is writing. If I hold her left hand with my right I often end up blocking what we are writing so she can't see it. Andrew's mother was born left-handed, but Andrew remembers his mom telling him that she had teachers in school that would not allow her to use her left hand. They forced her to learn with her right and she hated it. In the end she was able to do it and learned to be right-handed, but I can imagine that being an awful experience! I don't want Reagan to ever feel like there is something wrong with her for using her left-hand, but I also know this is a world largely based on right-handedness so she has to be able to adapt to circumstances (i.e. table settings, desk set-ups, sewing machines!) Sometimes I worry that I won't be able to teach her things correctly because I definitely can't use my left hand and have a result that looks much better than a 3 year old! Then I have mother moments that reassure me she is smart enough to figure things out on her own. 

On Monday I was doing preschool work with the kids (mainly with Jonathan, but Reagan participates and absorbs quite a bit). I had reached a point where I needed to work on some writing exercises with Jonathan so I gave Reagan a page about the color blue, a blue crayon and told her that her assignment was to color the pictures blue. I would look over and expect her to quit and give up, but she was determined to do it. She may not have been holding the crayon perfectly, but she was holding it well enough. I could see in her face that she was focused and determined to do well and color those pictures blue. When she was all done with the blue she decided that her page needed other colors too so she added a little pink, orange, and yellow around them. I was amazed at her ability to stay within the lines so well! I know it's not perfect, but Jonathan won't even stick with coloring in a picture all the way, let alone make such an effort to stay in the lines.

I know that lefties are supposedly more creative...maybe we have a budding artist on our hands?!

I found this article very interesting...and oddly enough describes some of Reagan's personality traits pretty accurately. Maybe she'll end up being the first female president of the United States?!