Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

My "baby" brought this home from PreK today. After a tense few hours at a lottery drawing for coveted PreK spots this summer, we were elated that he was the 19th kid drawn for a single class of 20. Amidst our cheers, he sourly wondered out loud, "Who wants to go to this dumb ol' school, anyway?"

But, turns out that he really loves school, now that he has gotten used to it. First few days were rough, with tear-filled mornings, but now, he springs to life every morning with excitement.

I can't remember where I read it, but supposedly, you can tell quite a bit about a kid's emotional state from their drawings. If they draw fingers and toes, they feel very connected and secure in their surroundings.

If that's the case, then this prickly-toed picture is VERY encouraging.

What a great kid.

Editor's note: After sending this scan to my husband's email account, he printed the picture and hung it in his office. Last night, after he returned home, he told me that when he walked into his office after lunch, he was startled to see that from a slight distance, the drawing resembled something different, and he made some indications with his arms and hands, as though he were holding very large spheres of some kind. I didn't really catch on, and I was busy sorting out the kids, so I just let it slide by.

We went to trivia last night, and Hubby had taken a picture of the printout with his camera phone. Passing it around the table, the (all male) trivia team members all agreed, that yes, indeed, it did resemble a "trouser tortoise".

"A what?" I asked, not quite hearing them correctly over the loud music and other bar distractions.

"You know, Stretch Johnson and the twins . . . ." one offered. "Yeah, Russell the Love Muscle" offered another. Still seeing the confused look on my face, one after another tossed their impressions into the ring . . . "Puff the Magic Dragon!" and "Pink Floyd!" It just started a whole thing . . .


Sheesh. Men.

But I have to admit, it kind of does. That makes it even funnier, actually.