Dukey and Johnny Freaking Out

We forgot to bring back his library book yesterday, but he chose not to pick anything from it.

Instead, he said surely, "Dukey. But this time, freaking out." We had done Dukey from Johnny Test just a few weeks ago.

"I don't want to do something that doesn't look like Dukey," I told him. "Last time you wanted to pick things that didn't look like anything."

He searched and searched and ultimately picked this silly shot of Johnny and Dukey.

As I was working through it, I made several mistakes that I had to cover up. I didn't mean to, but said out loud, "I'm not doing very well."

Later, he looked over the table and said, "You're doing good, Daddy."

It's makes me feel warm inside when he's sweet and encouraging.

When he saw the finished sack, he laughed, "Oooh, he-he." He took a closer look at the reference and asked, "Can you draw the background?"

I looked closer too. All I saw was some green and white. "There's nothing in the background," I said.

"Yeah. It's the hill and the fence."

I had to stare for a long time to see it, but I finally did. I added the arc of the hill but didn't think the rest would work. "I don't think the fence posts will be recognizable. That's all I'm gonna do," I said firmly.

He protested a little, "I know what they are and can recognize them."

"No. I'm done," I insisted.

"Okay," he relented.

Later after school when I pulled the snack sack out of his backpack, I asked him, "What did the kids say about it?"

"A lot of them really liked it," he told me. "Dukey and Johnny freaking out!"