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!"

Dukey

"What are we doing today?"

"Dukey."

Okay, I've seen Johnny Test twice now so I at least know that Dukey is the talking dog. The episode we watched yesterday was largely about Dukey and how he wanted to go to bring-your-pet-to-school day. Johnny picked his pet lizard instead, fearing Dukey might end up the star of a reality series if he brought him to school. I like the show. It's funny.

There weren't too many options for Dukey. Victor picked out an image of him with a super fat belly. Laughing, he showed me the phone and said, "Okay, this one."

"No," I said, "That doesn't look like him."

He found a different one with Dukey not even the main focus of the capture. "Okay, this one."

"No," I said.

He ended up picking this silly one of Dukey in bunny slippers, reading with his morning coffee. I messed up the proportions at first, but I was able to fix it. I retraced over the entire drawing which helped cover up some of the mistakes.

He liked it. "Cool!" he said. He looked at me and asked, "Are you going to do the 'Test' part?" He was wondering about his name and thinking about how I had done it in the Johnny Test from yesterday.

"No. I'm just going to do your name."

He watched as I filled in the mini Johnny Test silhouette inside the letter "O".

Reiterating his comments from yesterday, he said, "I love how you do it so small."

As we were walking out of the house, he planned out the snack sacks for the rest of the week. "Tomorrow I want you to do Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Then the next day I want you to do Perry."

I nodded in agreement.

"Or...could you do Dr. Doofenshmirtz fighting Perry?"

"If I have time."

"Okay, then I need to wake up early tomorrow and you need to get ready early tomorrow so that you have time."

"Okay," I said as we walked out into the sunlight.

Johnny Test

"When are you coming to my class to teach drawing?" he asked excitedly.

"I need to figure out exactly what I'm going to do and say," I responded. I'm a little nervous about going actually. I really don't know exactly what to do or say.

"Well, you promised my teacher a long time ago."

"I know. I know."

"I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to stand up there with you and pick on someone and they can ask you to draw something."

"Um, I want to pick something easy. I can't take too much time."

"Like the Empire State?"

"No," I said slowly and deliberately, "probably a character that everyone knows."

Then his eyes got wide and he exclaimed, "Johnny Test!"

"Is that what you want today?"

"Yes!"

We shifted gears to search for a good shot of Johnny Test. I studied the image he chose. "It's really two things," I told him. "It's Johnny and the guitar."

"You've done two things before."

"Oh, I can do it. It's just that the more there is, the more time it takes." As is so often then case, I looked at the clock worried I didn't have enough time. I worked efficiently and finished just in time to rush out the door. 

His reaction was priceless. He took it all in with a gush of compliments, "Oh, jeez. Oh, jeez. Yup! I love it! I love it!" Then he noticed his name and the tiny Johnny Test head in the "O" like in the original logo. He continued his gushing, "Oh, gosh. How'd you do that? Victor Test! It's a good thing I have an 'O' right? I have flaming hair! Yay! Oh, jeez. How'd you do that? How'd you make his head so small? Okay, I'm totally showing this to the teachers. Whoa! I totally love Johnny Test. How'd you make his head so small? Seriously, how'd you do it!?!"

I felt proud today. I couldn't help but walk out of the house and into the sunshine with a big smile on my face. This one came back home. I knew it would.