Never A Dull Moment

To file under Exchanges I Will Treasure Forever:

Shaun to Nels, who was moping about not getting to do what he wanted to: "I think you like being sad."

Nels to Shaun, fixing him with a cold eye: "Don't be a fool."

Nels has been especially morose lately ("I can't sleep. My feelings are too big.") and I'm hoping it's just because he's been coming down with a big old cold. Again.

Willem has suddenly abandoned a year's worth of potty training and we are likewise hoping it can be attributed to being under the weather. It is certainly one of the more baffling and frustrating parenting challenges we have faced.

On the bright side, Nels has finally embraced drawing! He frequently comes home from school and sits down to draw, first thing.

He was going through a very martial period when he first got started:

And yes, he was asked by his teacher not to use the word "bomb" at school any more.

Then we watched the movie Iron Giant and it was all robots, all the time:

Here's a battle scene...the spheres are robots, which are capturing the monsters on the ground. There's a TIE Fighter thrown in for good measure.

And, finally, I had to throw in this rare depiction of a benevolent world in which everything is smiling.

It was a prescient drawing, perhaps...the sun is actually shining today. Smile.