Jack Skellington

"What's for the snack sack today?" I asked for the first time in 10 days. He was off for winter break all last week.

"Jack Skellington?" he said curiously.

"Makes sense," I told him. He had asked for Jack Skellington on the last day before the break but then changed his mind to Oogie Boogie.

"Why do all of these look scary?" he asked browsing through the options. After careful consideration he said, "This one."

"I thought you'd pick one of him looking happy," I said, clearly misinterpreting his question.

"I like him looking scary," he confirmed.

I wasn't thrilled with the choice. "It doesn't look exactly like Jack Skellington, don't you think?"

"It looks like him to me."

"Well, let me give it a shot."

This was a hard one. It has an ominous front facing perspective, black-out parts that always take a ton of time, all those slender finger segments, and that creepy smile. As I drew, it didn't look like much of anything until it all came together toward the very end.

"Oh good!" he said nodding with a big smile as soon as he saw it finished.

When I picked him up in the afternoon, one of his friends came up to me and said with a big smile herself, "You are such a good artist."

"What'd you say?" her mom asked curiously. 

"He's such a good artist!"

"How do you know that?"

"Because he draws on Victor's snack sack everyday. It's so awesome!"

Victor pulled out two snack sacks from his backpack, today's Jack Skellington and the SpongeBob and Patrick one from before the break. He waved them around and showed them off. The mom looked at them amidst the kids squealing and pushing each other to get a better view. 

"Wow, you really are a good artist. Those are amazing!"

"Yeah," her daughter confirmed. "They are so cool!"

I have fans! Hearing the compliments really made my day.

Oogie Boogie

“What should we do today?”

"I just thought of an idea. Have you done Jack Skellington?”

“Actually, no I haven’t.” He finally got brave enough to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas recently. We have all our movies loaded up digitally and available to play instantly via our Apple TV.  For a long while he avoided the movie worried the grim story and sinister characters would scare him. It was probably the right choice. Now that we watched it together as a family, he really enjoyed it.

“Actually, Mr. Oogie Boogie,” he said changing his mind. He's been watching clips of the movie on YouTube with special interest in Oogie’s signature song where he repeats the line, "You're jokin'.” He’s learned it almost all the way through. He sings it with great inflection and characterization. The kid has got quite the engaging personality, especially when he gets into character. I’ve often wondered how popular he might be as a child actor on TV. He’s got the charisma for sure, but I’m not sure he’d follow anyone’s direction but his own.

We picked an option quickly. I felt focussed today and had plenty of time to work since I didn't have to make lunch. Today is his Valentine’s Day party so his class is having a big celebration with food and sweets. He sat next to me working on his Valentine’s Day cards. He was bringing SpongeBob valentines for the boys and cute dogs and cats valentines for the girls.

After some time showing rare focus on his task, he looked over and said, "Oh you're done. Lemme see.” He studied it and said with a huge smile, "Oh niiice!”

Looking over at his valentines, I couldn't help but think that Oogie Boogie is an odd choice for Valentines Day.