"Great idea, Mommy," says Henry, leaping up. I bring in a basket of crayons and paper, and he gets busy.
By the time I am ready to sit down, he has produced a picture of a one-legged gnome with googly eyes, a tripartite beard, and a properly pointy hat. I am delighted. Henry's usual subjects when he sits down to draw are monster trucks and Army tanks, produced by the score, and I will admit that to my eye they lack the human interest that reels me in.
I propose to color Henry's picture in, while he works on more gnomes.
"Now you make one," he says, offering suggestions for my composition as I work. "How about another gnome there? How about a gnome family?"
"Mommy! I know!" he says after a bit. "Let's make a book!" He runs out of the room and comes back with a stapler. We assemble our pages, and he staples them together.
"Let's call it Gnomes Book," he says. I tell him the letters, and he writes them down.
"Now we need letters for each page." I suggest he tell me what he wants each page to say, and I will write it down. We disagree slightly about the humor and interest of nonsense words, but once we're done, I have to admit that he was right. He suggests that I come up with my own words to go with the picture I drew, and I think we can all agree that this is where the story really flags. Still, Henry is so pleased with the idea of a tree stump house that he doesn't mind the dullness.
When we're done writing, he decides the plain back cover is wasted space, so with a practiced hand he sketches a gnome car. To avoid confusing the reader between the two covers, he also suggests adding "FRONT" where indicated. Finally, he wants the authors to sign their names.
"Mommy, I am so so proud of myself!" he says. We dance around the living room, and read the book three times in a row. James wakes up from his nap and comes to see what the fuss is all about. We read the book to him, and he laughs most gratifyingly at the right parts.
***
In other news, during my long blog silence, we have bought a house, and Henry has started preschool. And now I think we are all caught up.
