Checked Off

This afternoon Jasmine plopped into the living room chair next to me. She was bored and was announcing her boredom through a huge sigh. She had brought one of her drawing pads and a Ticonderoga number two pencil - Justin's favorite kind of pencils.She began drawing in circles with no real plans of anything in particular, you could tell. Periodically she would glance down at Vada who was sitting on the living room floor, not far from us, playing quietly with her not so quiet toys. After silently watching Jasmine for a moment I got back into my weekly meal planning.

You know how there are moments when you feel as if your being watched? Well, I was having one of those moments, so I looked back up from my writing. Jasmine was staring at me with a question that clearly needed to be asked. "Mama", she said, "Can I see if Vada wants to learn how to draw?" I kind of giggle inside at her question. I have noticed that as she gets older those cute, child like moments become fewer and far between when compared to what they once were.

I know very well, that Vada is not old enough to draw, let alone hold a pencil in her tiny hand. However, I figured that if I were standing right there with the two girls that no harm would come of it.

Vada seemed to be very interested in what was happening. She allowed Jasmine to hold her own hand with the pencil and she seemed content with her big sister guiding them both together around and over the paper. It was quite a sweet experience to watch, until, we had decided that enough was enough and I began to lift Vada off of Jasmine's lap. That's when the baby attitude kicked in and Vada began to protest. In her determination to continue with what she had been doing she flailed her hands around causing a finger to slip over a side of the paper. Which created her very first paper cut and momentarily traumatized Jasmine who instantly blamed herself for the tiny red trickle that had begun to to flow from the tip of Vada's finger.

It took a second to reassure Jasmine that little cut on Vada's finger was not her fault and once she realized that everything was "okay" you could see that she had begun to relax again.I think however, that drawing with Vada can now be checked off of the sisterly "To Do List" and will be something reserved for when she is a bit older.