Yertle the Turtle

"What should we do today?"

"I keep running out of ideas so I don't know."

"Should we stop doing it?" I asked, surprising myself. I should really have shown more patience, but I've been a little frustrated with his recent inability and indifference toward picking new things to draw every day.

"What?" he asked.

"Snack sacks."

"No. Sometimes I just need two minutes. You choose what you want," he said, throwing it back to me.

"How about Dr. Seuss? We haven't done anything from Dr. Seuss," I told him. Last night we'd read the Happy Birthday to You! book which I'd never heard of, let alone read. As usual, I was left amazed by the silly story and original illustrations.

"Yes we have," he insisted.

"What?" I asked, trying to think back. "From the Lorax? That was just the rocks, 'Unless'."

"Yeah, but it's still from Dr. Seuss."

"But we haven't done any of the fun characters!"

"Okay, then do Yertle the Turtle."

Yertle the Turtle is another Dr. Seuss book I’ve never read myself. “Okay,” I said.

I ran a search and handed him my iPhone. He browsed for a bit. “This one is too crazy!” he shouted. He showed it to me, but I didn't think it looked too crazy. He didn’t wait for me to respond. He kept scrolling. “I've got it! This one,” he said. “It kind of looks like a horse...a horse with a shell on its back.”

This one was easy, although, I didn't get his face quite right. I drew his beak first and didn't leave myself enough room for his eyes and face so it's a bit more compact that it should be. Otherwise it looks cool. I wanted his opinion. “So what do you think?” I asked him as I moved the bag in front of his face.

“Of the snack sack?” he said, distractedly. He was playing Minecraft on his iPad.

“Yes.”

“Yeah, it looks awesome,” he said, hardly looking at it.

He was distracted by Minecraft and justifiably so. In just the past couple of days, he’d begun to play the game in survival mode instead of creative mode. It’s hard for a snack sack drawing to compete in a moment when he's enthralled with what's new and fresh and dangerous. However, just like Dr. Seuss and his wonderful creations will stand the tests of time, I believe our little project will as well. Games like Minecraft may have their impact, but I believe they are less likely to maintain the same kind of permanence.

The Grinch

"My Dad is going to do the Grinch today," he announced, referencing me in the third person.

He had announced the same on Thursday evening, but since he stayed home sick from school on Friday, the Grinch was made to wait. He clearly had it on his mind this morning because I hadn't even asked him about the snack sack yet. He's rarely ahead of me.

I ran a search for Grinch coloring pages and handed him my iPhone. When he showed me the one he wanted, it was in color, not a coloring page outline.

He noticed the change in expression on my face and asked, "What's wrong?"

"This is the only one that is in color. You didn't pick one with an outline. Did you do that on purpose?"

"No," he defended. We sat in silence for a few beats. "Should I pick something different?"

I waved him off and got to work on it. Despite waking up on time and having a smooth morning, I still didn't get started today until after 8:00am. Between breakfast, getting him through the routine, making his lunch, gathering his stuff, and checking for homework or other things, it takes a long time to get ready in the morning. I felt hurried, but did my best to stay calm.

"I want to see the Grinch-y," he said rushing over from the bathroom after brushing his teeth. "Was it too hard?"

"Not too bad, no," I said honestly.

"Okay good, because I don't want to ever pick anything that's too hard for you."

That, I know is not true, but I let it slide by for the moment and gave him a smile.

Unless

Unless

"A wall. A brick wall and something in the middle is growing and saying 'thanks'."

"What?" I knew what he was talking about but wanted him to explain it, or remember it better.

"A brick wall is a circle and there's something in the middle and there's something that is saying thanks to the tree or something in the middle that's gonna grow."

"From The Lorax you mean?" I asked trying to let him off the hook. While he was talking I did the search and showed him the "Unless" circle of stones.

"Yeah!"

This one was fun to draw trying to get the perspective right. It came out okay and I liked finding a way to incorporate his letters into the drawing. He really enjoyed the movie and I guess the message stuck with him too, albeit, not word for word. He was close. :)

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."