I woke up one morning recently and didn't see my toddler anywhere. We have it setup that the living room and Little Rabbit's bedroom are baby safe and babygated so she stays in those rooms when she crawls out of bed in the morning. I found the sneaky little girl hiding behind the couch. She had found a prize she's not allowed to touch...daddy's pen for school! Little rabbits legs and arms were covered in blue pen marks. She smiled real big and I knew she was having a ball writing all over herself.

I first showed Little Rabbit the concept of drawing months ago. I used a crayon and drew on a blank piece of paper. She was fascinated. Since then, she's become obsessed with drawing. Her daddy lets her use his pen on a special notebook only for her drawings so she doesn't make a mess with the pen.

For her birthday she got a magnadoodle!

The magnadoodle was an amazing gift from her grandma. Temporarily abandoning the obsession with her dad's pens, Little Rabbit has enjoyed drawing on her new toy. I had to show her how to push the lever to erase the board to give her a clean drawing board. Her hands still aren't coordinated enough to always push the eraser lever but she understands what happens. Now, she'll draw, bring it to me, and that means "erase mommy." If I'm asleep she throws it on my face to wake me up to get it erased.

The best thing we've gotten for Little Rabbit is chalk. She got a tiny little chalkboard for her birthday. She likes to use it on the couch. Naturally, my couch now is different colors from all the chalk dust. I did some searching in the garage and found a larger chalk board that hangs on the wall I've had since I was a kid. I hung it on the wall next to my bed. This keeps Little Rabbit contained when it's early in the morning and I'm asleep. She'll sit in the bed with her chalk and draw on her board. She does draw on the wall with the chalk but that's not bad. Of course she still gets daddy's pen and, thinking it's like chalk, has drawn on the walls leaving more permanent marks. She also has drawn in her story books and on a plastic slide.

It's really interesting seeing her develop. She is so fascinated by drawing and can sit enthralled for a long time by a simple piece of chalk and a board or a magnadoodle. When I was in high school I was really into drawing and art. I wonder if someday Little Rabbit will have the same interests. Her dad wants her into sports but I'd be happy is she were more like me. When she is older I'd like to teach her different drawing techniques early on. Maybe by learning as a child she will be able to develop better skills as she grows older.