Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo Bear Cooking Over a Campfire

"Do you want the same one from Yogi that you said you wanted yesterday?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, you're going to have to find it again because I didn't save it."

"Okay, I know exactly which one it is." It was a snapshot of Yogi and Boo-Boo cooking over a campfire.

This makes the fourth day in a row that we've done Yogi Bear scenes. That may just be a record. I'm not sure if we've even done Looney Tunes scenes for four days in a row. So far we've done: Yogi and Boo-Boo running from Park Ranger Smith, one with Yogi and Boo-Boo preparing a campfire, and one with Yogi stealing food.

With all the practice, I made quick work of this one. When I was almost done, he came to my side of the table and said, "Can you move, please? I want to see how you're doing." He took a look and approvingly exclaimed, "Oooh, gooood!" He studied it some more and asked, "Can you add more background, instead of just grass?"

"You can add it," I told him. Lately, I've been encouraging him to draw more.

"Okay! Tell me what to do."

"You can draw trees."

"Okay." He did. "Should I draw a redwood?"

"Yeah, do that." He drew a taller tree, the redwood. "Maybe you want to add some detail on the bark," I suggested. He did.

"What else?" he asked. I thought for a moment. "Oh I know, a nest!" he shouted before I could say anything. He drew it and the bird.

"Cute," I said. He drew another bird. I asked, "Is that the momma and that's the baby?"

"No. Here is Daddy and this is Momma," he clarified by pointing each out to me.

"Okay."

"I can add rocks." He did. "Now I'll draw mountains." He did. "Daddy, look! I made some look near and some look far."

"Oh, cool." He's been proud of his newly forming skill of drawing perspective.

I left for a few minutes to quickly send a work email. He was still drawing when I came back. "Still drawing?" I asked.

"Yeah! I still have a few more things to do. One more mountain," he said. I was impressed that he knew to draw the mountains behind the smoke. "These are snow volcanos so they kind of trick you." He told me all about the snake, and the crystal ball on a stick, and the treasure box, and a story about how the snake tricked them by stealing the crystal ball. His imagination has no bounds. In days past I would have told him that less is more; but, today, I let him be free to create what he wanted.

"It's time," I finally called out. "You have to add your name."

"Okay, what should I do it like?"

"Maybe you can do it in the root system," I suggested. He did. 

"It's actually one root. Look Daddy! It connects!"

"Awesome!" Today, he made a nice set of additions to the original. He was very proud of his work and so was I.

How about a mamba...

"Dad, would you like to be called a boob?"

"No." That's one way to start our morning, I thought. I immediately had images of the Horton Hears a Who! movie in which the Mayor is called a boob. "Why did you ask me that?"

"Because the Mayor is called a boob," he answered, assuming I knew exactly what he was talking about, which I did. He had seen the movie again at school on Friday. "Would you like to be called a boob?" he asked again.

"No. Do you want me to draw Horton?"

He ignored the suggestion.

"What should we do then?"

"Me as a tiny little baby! Hahaha! Just kidding. How about a Rubik's Cube?"

Last night, I had obsessively worked on solving the Rubik's Cube. I messed up so many times before I was finally able to copy the YouTube instructions without error. There it sat on the kitchen table successfully solved. "Um," I uttered.

"Just kidding! How about a mamba?"

"What's a mamba?"

"It's an animal from India, someone told me."

I looked it up having forgotten what a mamba was. "Oh, it's a snake," I said, once I saw the search results. That made me think of Kobe Bryant's nickname...The Black Mamba. I handed Victor my iPhone and he picked one quickly.

"Just do this one. It's not a mamba, but it is a snake."

"Well it says 'Black Mamba' on it, so maybe it is a mamba."

"Oh, I see."

I was very disappointed that I didn't leave enough room to draw its tongue. Its tongue is one of the coolest parts of the original reference because it's long and curly. There just wasn't any room for it and there was nothing I could do about it.

When he saw it finished, he said, "Oh, it's too bad you didn't have room for the..." He trailed off as he gestured with his finger and tongue.

"I know. I'm super frustrated that I didn't leave room."

"You could add it here," he suggested, opening the bag up some. He had the idea that I could still add it under the crease of the sack.

I tried it and it worked. "It worked," I shouted.

"I told you!"

"Yup, it worked! Great idea!" It was a great idea. How very clever! 

A Cobra

He's been studying the rainforest at school and I've been trying to get him to think of rainforest things for a few days. Despite my prodding, he's been hesitant to choose anything from the rainforest. Today I didn't ask him. I just did a search for "rainforest animals" and handed him my iPhone. I stepped away for a minute to start a load of laundry. When I came back, the phone was sitting on the table.

"Did you pick something?" I asked him.

"Yeah."

"What?"

"A snake."

I picked up the phone to take a look. "Ooh, a cobra!"

We've actually never done a snake which is surprising. I was hoping for something relatively easy today and I got my wish. This one wasn't very complicated.

"Can you make the tail longer he asked?"

"Why?"

"Because I don't like it when the tail is short."

"Okay. How would it go if it was longer?"

He used his finger, pressed to the phone, and showed me how the snake's tail would be if it were longer.

"So, straight up over its head?"

"Yup."

"Okay, I can do that."

When I was finished, I retraced over the entire outline, something I rarely do. I'm not sure if I like the results, though. Some thick strokes ended up in the wrong places. I also don't usually change the drawing, but I'm happy with the extended tail.

Since this one was easy, I finished with plenty of extra time. "Do you want to write your name today?" I asked him.

"Yes!" he shouted. I opened the drawer to get him a different Sharpie. "Can I use the silver one?" he asked.

I figured, What the hell? but gave him a lecture about not pressing so hard. I demonstrated that the marker writes just fine with zero pressure.

"I can do it. I won't press hard. I don't think so. Please!"

I gave him a stern look and handed over the silver Sharpie, pretty sure the tip would be pressed flat in a matter of seconds. I went upstairs to move clothes from the washer to the dryer. When I came back, I saw what appeared to be a bunch of silver scribbles on the sack.

"Are you finished?"

"Yeah."

"What's that you drew?"

He said, "Here's 'T.' He's falling down. Here's 'V.' He's sliding down. Here's 'i.' He's just chillin'. Here's 'c.' He's playing checkers. And here's 'r.' He's splashing into the water."

I wasn't sure where "o" was and didn't ask him. I couldn't help but smile at his never ending imagination. He's just like me, but even more so. He doesn't want anything to be boring.