Look at this one!

A friend of mine drew this one. She said she didn't look. Most impressive. She got the tongue, the fuzzy head and cheery expression. No evil lurks behind those eyes. 

My sister's looks pretty bad by comparison (sorry). Perhaps there is a genetic element involved?

So, my sister's is pretty good

My sister's picture is pretty good. She knew that the eyes were on top of the head, even. I feel ashamed.

The Great Elmo Draw-Off

What do you do when your 20-month old girl screams, “Draw Elmo, Mommy! Draw Elmo!” You are sitting with her, next to a large pad of paper and crayons that you brought out when she yelled, “Play crayons! Play crayons!”

My iPhone was nowhere in sight, and the computer was too far away to access an image of the furry red imp that has captured my child’s imagination. There are no books either, nor is there a stuffed toy, where I can sneak a peek to skillfully copy Elmo’s cherubic Muppet face. Besides, how hard can this be? He’s just a bunch of circles, and look, I found the red crayon.

“I got this,” I think, with parental hubris. My drawing skills are pretty good. She recognized my elephant and frog, after all. How difficult can it be to draw that bad boy? He’s got googley eyes, a big orange nose, and he’s red. Pretty easy to put this picture together! “Here you go! There’s Elmo!” I say triumphantly, holding up my image.

“No”, she said immediately. “No!”

I look at the picture again, surprised by her reaction. Okay, maybe he looks a red Grover? Does she not like Grover?

She shook her head, and protested, louder, “NO! NO!”

“What?” I say, looking at the picture, “This is Elmo. EL-MO”, I say slowly, because this will make her understand. I turn the picture back around.

She begins to cry.

I look closer at my picture. Yeah, maybe he is a little of scary. He looks a little unhinged, insanity lurks behind those googley eyes – like Anakin Skywalker after he meets with his fiery destiny in the last episode of the most recent Star Wars. Have I permanently scarred my child’s tender sensibility?

As my toddler wails in despair, I look up Elmo online, and quickly throw one down. Looks good, crying stops – thank Jim Henson above.

I had my husband do the same exercise when he arrived home from work. I explained to him how I inadvertently traumatized our child, and that we needed to increase our automatic savings fund transfer for future therapy sessions. Then I asked him to draw Elmo from memory. “No cheating”, I said. This is what he came up with:

Seriously? That's the best you can do? He doesn't look even remotely like Elmo, but at least this image appears sincerly friendly, unlike my malevolent robot monster. He looks awfully familiar, however...

I love that frog.

Obviously we are challenged in my household. But can you do any better? I reiterate: no cheating! Take a piece of paper, and a pen, pencil, or crayons if you have them (note: colors don’t necessarily help). Draw Elmo from memory, show the picture to your kid, and let them be the judge.