That Monster Thingy

"What should we do today?"

"Remember you said you'd do another Godzilla?"

"We had the conversation yesterday, but I didn't really agree."

"Do you like Godzilla?"

"Not really," I said honestly.

I really don't get the Godzilla craze. I ran a search anyway and handed him my iPhone. He found one he liked and walked over to me. He never does that. "This one is so cool," he said, not showing it to me. He kept embellishing until I asked to see it.

"I can't do that," I told him. He had picked a very complex Godzilla head. It definitely looked cool. I had to agree with him on that. But it was just too intricate for me to try this morning.

"Please, please," he pleaded.

I looked at it more carefully. "It has too much detail," I said. I wasn't trying to get out of it. It really did have too much detail.

"Can you try?"

"Maybe I could make it my own way, but I won't be able to make it like that."

"Can you try?"

"I can try my own way."

He changed his mind abruptly. "How about that monster thingy?"

Before we settled in on the Venus flytrap from a couple of days ago, he had picked a bizarre combination drawing of a scorpion, spider, crab, Venus flytrap, and who knows what else, monster thing. I had said, "No," then, but didn't have any reason to say, "No," today. I redid the Venus flytrap search and found it pretty quickly. The original had boobs and an egg sack in the crotch. He asked me not to do the egg sack because it looked weird. I told him I wouldn't do the top like that either.

"Yeah, I didn't want you to do that either."

It's always difficult for me to draw things that are symmetric, but I did my best.

"Why is it so creepy?" he asked.

"I don't know, but it looks weird."

"It does."

When I was done he said "Nice! Thank you for not doing the nipples and that other thing. I just know that my teacher and my friends are going to like this one."

"How come?" I asked with genuine curiosity. For me, there wasn't much to like.

"Because they both like monsters and stuff."

"Really? Your teacher likes monsters?"

"Yeah. Maybe we can call an art professional to do that Godzilla."

I must admit that I didn't like the demotion nor the notion that someone else could draw something that I couldn't. "I could do it," I assured him, and myself, "It would just take me a long time is all."

"Oh. So, maybe you can do it on the weekend," he suggested.

"Um," I uttered.

"Can you Daddy?"

"Um," I repeated. I wasn't so sure about drawing it on the weekend, but, I told him, "Maybe." And maybe I will...but I doubt it.

A Giant Scorpion

"What should we do today?"

"A giant scorpion."

We had a little chat about the time I was bit by a scorpion. It happened in the shower just a few years ago. As the water sprayed down, a desert scorpion hung upside down, unbeknownst to me, under the shower drain cap. I'm sure it was unhappy with the unexpected rainstorm and stung my toe when I got too close to it. My toe felt like it had been stabbed. A strong burning sensation immediately followed. I suspected that my toe had caught a rough edge of the drain cap, however, there was no blood. The pain didn't go away, so I bent down to take a closer look at the drain. Shivers ran up and down my spine when I saw the scorpion in an aggressive stance, still hanging upside down. I jumped out of the shower and limped to my iPhone. I did a quick search to learn how serious a scorpion bite is. Luckily, the pain subsided after I applied an ice pack, as per the instructions I found. I don't recommend allowing yourself to be stung by a scorpion. It was not a pleasant experience.

I got started right away and forgot to make his lunch first. When I realized I still had to do that, it was almost time to head out. I rushed to finish.

"Ooo! Scorpion! Awesome!"

I smiled. My hard work was rewarded with his reaction.

"Did you take a picture?"

"Yup."

"Good!"

It's nice to be reminded of how much he likes these sacks and how much he wants us to preserve the memories.