Crazy about coloring

Mia has been crazy about coloring this past two weeks. Everytime I see her, she is coloring another page out her book, arranging the pictures that she has colored, taping more pictures to the clubhouse walls or showing someone her latest masterpiece. Her style of coloring is a rainbow effect using every color she has to fill in the picture. The princesses often have red skin and multi-colored hair. It's very, very colorful!

Before bed, she layed out all the crayons in a row getting them ready for baggies which she then placed in her favorite basket. She added her coloring book and headed upstairs for bed. I passed her several times that night peeking in to enjoy how content she was to endlessly color. When I passed her again, she was done. She had turned off her lights and snuggled herself into her favorite blanket and sleeping soundly. Her basket of crayons and coloring books was purposely placed upon her desk ready for the next day of work. Several nights she has done this. It's become her little routine. A routine that is much better than the yelling for Daddy to please do whatever whim she had at that moment.

These moments I need to remember when I am exhausted from the day. Her little body sitting in her big bed in her pink bedroom with her favorite Princess Leia shirt and soft jammy pants. The way her face looks as she concentrates on filling the page with every color in the basket. The way her little hands are almost, but not quite, grown out of the baby stage. I hope that I can still hear her little voice in my head when she grows. The little voice that belongs to the little girl that has been happily coloring any chance she has.