We all want to think our kids are shining lights, right? Right. So, the other day, I sat Elliott down at his new little desk, spread out his extra-fat, guaranteed-to-be-washable crayons, and asked, "Elliott, could you draw a duck for Mommy?"
Almost without hesitation, Elliott snatched up the yellow crayon and began furiously scrubbing on the paper. My heart sang! My child knows what color a duck is! He's drawing me a duck! I conjured images of art lessons and exhibits and maybe even selling his "primitive" works to pay for his college education.
My exhaltation was fleeting, of course. A heartbeat later, Elliott picked up his rubber duck (you can see his green and yellow duckies in the corner of the picture below) and began rubbing the poor duck's bum across the paper. Color a duck for Mommy, indeed!
I decided to try a different tactic. "Elliott," I asked, "What color is a pig?"
Obligingly, Elliott hesitantly picked up the pink crayon.
"Yes, my son, YES! A pig is PINK."
A look of confusion clouded Elliott's face and he furrowed his brow. He let the pink crayon drop on the desktop and he grabbed the fat little brown crayon and held it up for my approval.
[I suppose this part of the story would be funnier if you knew that "pigs" has become our family slang for "poop," wouldn't it?]
Nieka
I love that he tried to color "with' the duck. Too cute! You're such a great writer, I love reading your blog.
Posted by: BB | March 14, 2006 at 03:07 PM
hey!! how are you?? i saw your name on tara'a blog...elliott is soooo big now!!
Posted by: missy s | March 17, 2006 at 11:16 PM