Share your child's can-do creativity!

Before I had Max, I had a defined sense of what "coloring" meant for a kid. Like many things, it was based on my experiences as a child. Coloring was drawing in a coloring book or freehandedly making pictures of stuff—flowers, a house, a robot, whatever. Random scribbling was for toddlers.

Then I had Max. And soon enough I realized that 1) The mere act of grasping a crayon could be considered a feat and 2) Random scribbling could be a means of expression for a child of any age.

For years, Max wasn't into coloring. More specifically, he wasn't into using his hands to do anything that required extended grasping. Therapists often recommended bulb-like "finger crayons" as well as adapted crayon holders. In the last couple of years, Max has gotten pretty good at holding onto the chunky kind of crayons. We have amassed quite the collection of purple ones.

Max's purple period, I call it—similar to Picasso's blue one. And just like that world-renowned painter, Max chooses to paint monochromatically on a white medium. Which is to say, the kid only wants to color in purple on white paper. I can't begin to express the delight he takes in coloring in every single millimeter of the page purple.

Once Max has finished his purple masterwork, he will inspect it and if there is even a teensy speck of white peeking through, he will color it in. The above piece of artwork is rare in that he decided to leave some white space, and it will surely someday go for a very high bidding price when it gets auctioned off.

Purple inspires Max.

Sabrina, meanwhile, is all over the rainbow. She never colors the same thing twice.

To me, their drawings are equally awesome.

I submitted both pieces of artwork to the 2012 All Kids Can CREATE campaign, sponsored by CVS Caremark All Kids Can. It's done in partnership with VSA, The International Organization on Arts and Disability. The purpose is to showcase the positive impact the arts can have on all kids. It's open to kids with and without disabilities, ages 5 to 15, who live within the U.S. This year's theme: "What inspires me."

Max's painting is entitled "Purple No. 1,000,000."

Sabrina's painting is "Under The Sea." She's inspired by creatures in the ocean, she said, because "they are free and have fun and it's so beautiful there."

You have until Sunday, April 8 to submit the kids' artwork here. It's super-easy: just snap a picture and upload. All submissions will be featured in an online gallery and considered for display in a national exhibit. It'll go on view in Washington D.C. this August, and will feature two pieces of artwork from every state and the Distric of Columbia. A group of young artists will be invited to a reception in Washington, D.C. Note: Art teachers who submit their students' artwork are eligible to receive $1500 for use in their classroom.

Please join Max and Sabrina and enter your kids' creations!

What kind of stuff is your child into creating these days?

This is one of a series of posts sponsored by CVS Caremark All Kids Can, a commitment to making life better for children with disabilities. "Like" them on Facebook!

Help A Mom Out: What's your best advice for a new mother?

Every week, I get emails from new moms who read this blog. They often say they're heartened to see how well Max is doing, which is heartening to me. But they're anxious about their babies. They write about struggling to come to terms with what happened, how isolated they feel from friends and family (and even their husbands), how overwhelmed they are. They want information on what they can do to help their babies. They want comfort.

Yesterday I heard from Jewel, a mom of three. Her youngest, Jemma, is 13 weeks old; she had a brain bleed in utero. Jemma has some weakness in her right arm and hand and isn't lifting her head up yet on her tummy. She's on seizure medication. "She now smiles and coos and loves to interact with people and be talked to. You can tell she wants to laugh," wrote her mom. "Any advice with what to do with Jemma, watch for, bring up to doctors/neurologists, tests to ask for and how to better interact with her, I'd love. It's taken me 13 weeks to reach out and look for people/information. I realize it's much better to relate and talk with people who have experienced the same things than to try to conquer/live it alone."

I shared some thoughts with her, and then I said I'd reach out to all of you to see what you wanted to say. Some of the stuff I think is key during that first year (and afterward) when you're a new mom to a child with special needs:

• Get your baby lots of therapy (aka therapy up the wazoo). We had Early Intervention come and do an assessment on Max a couple of weeks after he was home for the NICU, and before that kicked in I was taking him to private therapy. Doctors couldn't tell us what Max's future held, but they were unanimous on one thing: getting babies therapy during the early years of their life, prime time for development, is key.

• Get yourself help. Take up friend's and family's offers to babysit or do things around the house. If you can swing it, hire a sitter once a week or more. You've been through a trauma; you need time to process, heal and get your favorite kind of frozen yogurt, if that's what makes you feel good.

• Find ways to enjoy your child and block out the worries. I've written before about dressing Max up in super-cute outfits and doing photo shoots with him. Going to the mall where ladies in stores would coo over Max helped, too. It focused me on his baby deliciousness and distracted me from the medical hell.

• Don't O.D. on doctor visits. When Max was an infant I made the mistake of making appointments with doctor after doctor, searching for answers about what the future held for him. Nobody could say for sure. Then I met a doctor who did give me his opinion. He said Max's future looked "ominous." I cried hysterically. After that, I mainly stuck with our kind, encouraging, realistic yet optimistic pediatric neurologist. He gave me hope. That's what I needed most in that first year with Max.

What information and/or words of encouragement do you have for this mom? I know she'll appreciate hearing from you.