Parental Bragging in the Digital Age

There's been so much action in our house in the last two weeks- enough that my blogging was limited to three days last week, and the lengthy post I'd planned to share about my Mother's Day experience is still only partially written (along with about five other stories I plan to share as soon as I've recovered and caught up on my sleep). 

It is during those very busy times that I most appreciate Cael's now obsessive interest in art.  Not only does he enjoy illustrating stories and assembling books in his free time, but when I am bogged down with chores and am not able to color with him, he retreats even further into his own world of art.  A world, I might add, where reality does not apply to color, and "abstract" is more often than not the name of the game.

I like his unrecognizable scribblings as much as his more successful attempts, to be honest.  Although I get tired of tiptoeing around his feelings while attempting to decipher the subject matter of his latest work, I do enjoy a challenge.

Cael is, if anything, a challenge.

You can imagine my surprise when Cael dragged me from dishes over to his latest "canvas" on the floor where I was expected to "ooh" and ahh" over his artistic endeavors.

"Mom, I drew a ninja.  Come see!"

Midway through my perfunctory glace at his paper, I stopped in my tracks.

"Yeah, Cael, that's a really g--  Wait, who drew this?"

"I did!"

"No, really, Cael.  Did Daddy draw this?  Papa?"

"No, Mom, I did!"

Stunned by what can only be described as an astonishingly accurate depiction of a ninja by the hand of a five year-old, I did what any mom would do.

I texted a picture of it to the family.  Then I Instagramed it.  If I were on Twitter, it'd be there too. 

Too bad no one uses MySpace anymore.  This deserves exposure.

So even though the horse Cael went on to draw immediately afterward looked more like a shoe than an animal, I can still carry the pride of knowing there's some real talent hidden in there.

And if not, I still have the text.