Kid Stuff: Pint-Sized Picasso and Hibernation Boy

I love to watch Parker James draw. He doesn't just stick his tongue out of his mouth (a characteristic of his maternal grandmother when she is concentrating, inherited by both boys); he actually curls it (a characteristic he picked up from Mom, thank you very much - but I don't stick it out of my mouth like that unconsciously). He also draws what I believe to be fairly fully-realized artwork for a kid his age - something that, I guess, he got from me as well.

The other day, I drew a picture of PJ in a Batman costume and labeled the image "Batparker." It drew rave reviews and also provided inspiration for a work of PJ's own. "Mom, I'm going to draw Connor as Joker." Oh, okay - cute. I took my eyes off of him for maybe four minutes, and, BOOM, he put this in front of me:

What impresses me, in no particular order:

(1) He got the details of Joker exactly right - and he was working from memory.

(2) He utilized a cartoon-ish style that is reminiscent of his Tiny Titans comic books, which feature lots of bold black lines, but he put a "Dark Knight" spin on things, using lots of sharp angles. It's like a noir version of the Titans, which is pretty Joker-appropriate.

(3) He added a background that is very evocative of Gotham City. And the background is asymmetrical, which fascinates me to no end, because most little kids favor symmetry at this stage.

Not Parker. Here's another one of his works from that particular art session, titled "King" (oh, by the way, that's not "Nana" coming out of Joker's mouth in the "Jok-Connor" piece - that's "haha" written with stubby H's):

There's a gold curtain on the left and an armoire on the right. The throne, I am told, is on a raised platform covered in a crown-patterned carpet.

Images below are from a recent trip to Macaroni Grill with Mom, Dad, Nana, Granddad and Gigi. Gotta love those butcher paper table covers.

"Mona Lisa."

"Stegosaurus." I didn't scan in the more detailed "Triceratops," which - in addition to the titular dinosaur - features large prehistoric plants that look like Venus flytraps on steroids.

"Ankylosaurus and Prehistoric Sea Creature." The sea creature is hovering over the ankylosaurus because PJ was running out of butcher paper. Literally. He almost covered the entire eight-top. He also made a point of explaining to Gigi, his great-grandmother, that "this prehistoric sea creature was bigger than two school buses." Then he drew the school buses, for comparison. He also drew some prehistoric sea snails, as an example of what the sea creature might have eaten.

After he drew the buses, he decided that someone might get confused and think that buses existed in prehistoric times, so he labeled this part of the picture "Then," and to the right he drew "And now."

"I drew a house, Mom. Because houses like ours didn't exist back then."

In other news, week before last, Connor passed out immediately after dinner for six days straight and did not awaken until the following morning. This would have concerned us, except for all of the complaints about his bones hurting. Oh, the moodiness was also a tip-off, and the forgetfulness, and the moodiness stemming from the forgetfulness. ("MOM! It's not my FAULT that my writing journal is missing. I've been keeping it in my desk instead of my backpack, precisely so that I WOULDN'T lose it. And now it's gone. Someone who shares a desk with me in writing MUST have stolen it. Why does everyone assume that it was me? WHY IS EVERYONE PERSECUTING ME?"

Anyway, on day seven, Hibernation Boy awoke feeling considerably more alert and chipper. He also was two full inches taller. And we're fairly sure that the Major Growth Spurt of 2011 is just getting into full swing.