Lately, I’ve been packing fresh berries for Little Boy’s school snacks. Blueberries, raspberries, strawberries—the trifecta of berry delights.
One day, in a surge of uber-mommy enthusiasm, I sketched a little lion on the foil I wrap over his Tupperware. Because, let’s face it, if I struggle to open that container, there’s no way his little hands can manage it solo.
To my surprise, my impromptu lion doodle was a hit. Little Boy loved it. Naturally, this meant the tradition had to continue. Every day, I send him off to school with a new masterpiece gracing the fruit cup lid: snakes, spiders, a campfire, Misty May-Treanor (don’t ask). Today, I attempted a cow. The face was passable, but the body? A disaster. So, thinking quickly, I turned it into a cow on the moon.
When Little Boy saw it this morning—because, of course, he can’t wait until school anymore—he was thrilled.
“Oooo, cow,” he said, admiring the artwork.
“An alien cow,” I clarified. “See? He’s on the moon.”
“Oooo, alien cow! I love alien cow!” he squealed with delight.
Then, after a moment of contemplation, he added, “Mommy, tomorrow I want you to draw a lion eating a… a… a…”
“Pizza?” I offered.
“No, a zebra!” he exclaimed, eyes lighting up with a faraway look. “A big lion eating a little baby zebra. And… and… he just eats that little baby zebra up!”
Okay. So, Little Boy watches too many nature documentaries. Way too many. I can already picture him whipping out his fruit cup at snack time, beaming at my lovingly rendered sketch of a lion devouring a baby zebra, and then happily munching on his raspberries like nothing’s amiss.
Parenting is wild, isn’t it?
