some more difficult writting

One day M. was colouring in one of those "princess magazines" I usually buy when we have to fly somewhere, to keep her busy during the flight. She always asks me what the pages ask her to do (colouring in the princesses, find their crowns, count their friends etc). One page was asking her to trace over the word below. She got her pen and starting tracing over the letters: I noticed that she was trancing the letters exactly and she should, as she had done many times with her finger over the sand-paper letters. She was quite confident at it, she wasn't just starting trancing over any point of the letter and going messy over it, her tracing was clean and tidy, letter were traced in the right direction. It seems quite natural for her doing that exercise, she didn't ask for help even if that was the first time she was using a pen to write a word.
I guess that without the sand-paper exercise, I would have to teach her letter by letter how to trace every single one on a piece of paper, repeating the same letter over and over again on the paper, losing my patience because she is not starting from the right point and not following the right direction. I realise how easy it is now for her tracing the letters, and how execiting it is. No boring exercise to learn how to write, no feeling like she will never be able to do it, never saying "it is too difficult".
I found these wipe-clean letter flash cards I had for a long time but thought wasn't the right time to take them out. Now it was the right time: how it is true that a child will let you know when he/she is ready, just observe!

I gave her the flash cards and told her what to do. She starting tracing those letters with such a natural touch, as if she had done it before.
And now she is so pround of her letters writing. She often takes them out and traces some letters until she is tired of it. I never push her to do more, I do not want her to hate any thing she now likes to do.





She still likes to take her sand-paper letters and do the exercise with them.