Turtle Mask

Turtle Mask

"What's for the snack sack today?"

"How about..."

"Oh, you said Hawaii yesterday," I interrupted.

"Right."

I searched Hawaii drawings but didn't find too many options. He picked this turtle mask type thing that happened to be in the list of images.

We were already running behind schedule having both slept extra this morning. Then, right before I got started, I spilled an entire cup of Jamba Juice onto the floor. It splattered everywhere and ran underneath the refrigerator. I had to move the fridge and clean under it as best I could. By the time I finished cleaning up I wasn't in the best of moods. I started drawing too hurriedly and had to throw out my first attempt. I took a deep breath and started a new one. It wasn't very symmetrical right off the bat, but I had to just keep going.

He had finished his breakfast by the time I got started. He came over to sit next to me to read his short reader books. There were three of them. He decided that today he would read his books in a sing-song voice. I tried to tell him to read normally but he ignored me. His song reading won me over quickly and a smile came across my face for the first time all morning. He sang the stories with the intense drama you might see in a Broadway show complete with da-da-da-dunt-da-dum type interludes. Then he started drumming on the table as he read. It was funny to see him in action. He made me chuckle even as I struggled through this drawing.

When I was finished, he said, "I like it but you forgot to do something." He took the Sharpie and added the dots on the turtle's head. "You forgot to add these dots," he told me. "I like it Daddy," he said approvingly.

He had one more book to read. He increased the pace of the drumming and theatrics as I prodded him to wrap it up quickly. He stopped himself a few pages in and said, "I'm just going to read this one regular because this one isn't so easy to do with a song. It's not a good song book." I had to laugh inside to keep from distracting him.

I was happy that the others had been good song books because his animated reading put me into a good mood this morning after having started off on the wrong foot.