The plane with the Space Shuttle on it...

"What should we do today?"

He thought for a long time without answering. We were both groggy and cranky after a long day at Disneyland yesterday.

"I need an idea or I won't have enough time," I warned. We were already running very behind schedule.

"Can you give me an idea?"

"How about something Disneyland or something rainforest or something Space Shuttle?" We visited the California Science Center in Los Angeles on Saturday where the Space Shuttle Endeavour is housed.

He thought for another long while. "How about a booster?"

"A booster doesn't look like anything." I knew he meant a rocket booster.

"Yes it does. It looks like a funnel."

I ran a search and showed him the results. "See, all the options are the Space Shuttle," I told him. "I don't want to do something exactly like what I did before." I'd drawn the Space Shuttle back during our very first year.

He scrolled and asked, "How about this? The plane with the space shuttle on it."

The coolest thing we saw at the California Science Center was a video that showed how they transported the Space Shuttle from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the Los Angeles International Airport and then through the streets of L.A., narrowly avoiding trees, power lines, cars, and people as crowds looked on in amazement. "Okay," I said a bit exasperated. I didn't have much time left.

He'd picked a simplistic drawing at least. However, as is typical with the "easy" ones, I had a hard time with it. I had to throw out my first try and would have likely thrown out the second had I had more time. I tried to fix it as best I could, but the perspective and proportions just weren't on target today.

My time was up. It was time to go. I finished and he was nice to say, "Oh, you did pretty good!"

I didn't agree. I was still feeling cranky. I took a picture and we headed out the door.

How about a battleship...

"What should we do today?"

"Does Mobzilla look exactly like Godzilla?" he asked.

"I don't know. Let me look it up," I said casually. I actually had no idea what he was talking about, but I didn't want to seem out of touch. "No, he doesn't look the same to me." I handed him the iPhone.

After browsing for a while, he suggested, "How about the Ender Dragon?"

"What's that?" I asked. I don't know much about Minecraft.

"You'll see."

Before he showed me, however, he switched gears and suggested, "How about a battleship?"

We had done a funky artistic rendition of a battleship back in September, but I figured why not try another. I think he picked this scene because of all the action in it. It all took a lot longer than I expected it to. Plus, I found it difficult to manage the proportions and perspective. This is one where I was happy to put the Sharpie down and call it finished.

Supermarine S.6B

After being home sick for the last few days we're now back to our normal routine. His cough is better and he's much more energetic, finally.

We still had the "How to Draw Planes" book and decided to use it since it was due back to the school library today. I was surprised he picked this old-school Supermarine S.6B racing seaplane. I was expecting him to pick a fighter jet.

I sat down feeling stressed for time although I had plenty. Toward the end, I started to rush, feeling extra pressure for no apparent reason. Staying home with him meant several days away from the snack sacks. The disruption to my own routine seems to have had an impact on my confidence.

"It's good," he said without much emotion, "but you missed a line." There it is. His old critical self. He's definitely feeling back to normal. :)

"Which one?" I asked.

He pointed to the propeller. I explained that since it was in motion it didn't have the line in the source drawing either. He understood and we headed out the door for another day of school and work.

Jet

Jet

"I'm out of ideas."

"It's Monday. You should be full of ideas."

"Oooh, I know! A jet!" he exclaimed a second later looking at his toy Air Force jet on the kitchen table.

I did a Google image search and handed him my iPhone as always.

"They're all so cool! I don't know which one to pick."

I actually wasn't thrilled with his choice over the other options, but oh well, I don't pick them.

He had no reaction today when I showed him the finished product. That's was disappointing. To top that off, I forgot to take a picture of it. As soon as I got back home, I sent his teacher an email asking her to track it down. I asked her to make sure it ended up in his backpack and not in the trash as it normally does. Luckily, he did bring it home. I was relieved not to have lost the record of this one.