He follows the rules.

This really made me laugh today.

Carson, age four (almost four-and-a-half, actually), has never really drawn or colored an entire picture, until today. We all know this kid can read like he's 12 and add and subtract, but give him a blank piece of paper or a coloring book and some crayons and he just sort of looks at you like, "what am I supposed to do with this?" I do try to encourage creativity, but really he just doesn't have the desire.

So today, he was really quiet for a while and then brought me this picture. I was blown away and thrilled that the child can actually color! And then I realized why, and that is what really made me laugh. He explained that the instructions said to color each section of the picture the correct color, so he had done what it said. Ohhh, so to get you to color, I have to write on the paper exactly where and what colors to use. One thing is for sure, this boy can follow instructions.

Lately I have also noticed how good Carson is at distracting Everett when he's about to throw a tantrum. So many times I'll hear them having a little dispute over a toy or how a game is played... Everett will start to whine or cry, and you know it's about to escalate. Then Carson comes in with, "Ev, hey Ev! You know what? Look, this is how we can do it!" I think many adults including me could take lessons from him in how to deal with a stubborn three-year-old.

We are so glad Carson is the biggest brother in our family.