Panther Set In Flames

"What should we do today?" I asked.

"I have no idea," he said and sat pensively. "You've done a battleship," he added.

"How about we do something with fire?" I suggested. A stack of fire safety materials were on the kitchen table. He brought them home from school yesterday. I did a search for "fire drawings" and handed him my iPhone. 

I figured I'd be drawing some flames but of course he picked something much cooler and more complex. "This one!" he exclaimed as soon as he saw this panther set in flames.

I was about to start but noticed that the thick tip of my twin-tipped Sharpie was squished down. I checked the others in the drawer. They all looked the same. "See! That's why I don't want you using my markers. You have your markers and these are mine," I said, not masking my frustration. He pushes down so hard when he writes that it only takes one line drawn to spoil the tip of a new Sharpie. I took a deep breath. "See," I said showing him the tip. "This is what happens. You press too hard and it flattens the tip. Now I can't really use this end to draw."

I could see him evaluating my concern. "Oh," is all he said. We agreed that he should have his own. "But I want colored ones," he informed me. "I think they have some at Target or something," he added helpfully.

"Okay, for you maybe. But I don't use color because it would take too long for me to draw with color too. It's really hard for me to make time to quickly draw these every morning," I said slowly.

"I know. You really make them well."

I got to work and carefully started with the panther's face.

He finished his breakfast and walked over to get a closer look. "Oh yeah! Cool!" he said taking stock of my progress. "It actually looks more realistic than the drawing."

I smiled inside at the compliment. He went to brush his teeth while I finished up. "What do you think?" I asked as we walked out. 

"Awwwesome," he said, elongating the word. "Yeah, awesome!" he repeated. 

He brought this one back and the next morning he showed it to me. "Look! I brought this back and I'm going to color it on the weekend!"