Smart Art

Henry has enjoyed scribbling for a long time now, but suddenly, the other day, he was actually drawing.

We were playing outside and when the neighbor girl drew a star with a piece of chalk, he picked up some chalk and said he was going to make a star, too. He drew an oval with a line through it, and then started to draw spikes extending from the perimeter. He said it was a sun. But when he finished making the spikes, he stood up, looked at it, and said, "Beetle!"


Next he made this:


and said it was a castle.

This is a boat:


and this is a construction crane:


I commented on the drawings, saying things like I noticed that the beetle had a stripe down his back, or that the boat looked just like the ones we see on Lake Michigan. I don't want Henry to look to me for praise for everything he does, but I do want to show him I'm paying attention. I admit, though, that it took everything in me not to tell him how incredibly smart and wonderful and amazing and gifted he is.

But he is, isn't he?