Ella's Tree

Early this morning, just awake from their not-long-enough summer's nap, the kids drew pictures in the kitchen for Dan.  At this point in the day, I was hopeful that these would be a few of many small, simple gifts they'd be giving him throughout the day as thoughtful ways to say "Happy Father's Day, Daddy" and "Enjoy your day, Daddy."

They both sat at our kitchen table with Cal's Crayola art set laid out in front of them.  Cal, our skilled artist, drew a baseball-themed picture, a scene he had drawn before, using a blue pen.  He had finished drawing the batter and the catcher when he caught a glimpse of what Ella was "drawing" with a red marker (against my better judgment -- the general house rule is that Ella is not to use markers).

I don't know if it was the many times that he heard Dan's and mine sickeningly proud enthusiasm over his and Ella's simplest achievements, but he laid it on thick.

"Ella, you drew a tree!" Cal exclaimed to Ella, now looking up at him proudly.  "You drew a red tree!  That is SO GOOD!"  And he gave her some assistance really making it look like a tree by scribbling a brown trunk Ella-style on one side of the red tree.

"Mommy!  Look!  Ella drew a tree!" Cal now officially brought me into the mix.  Here's what I saw:

"I see! Ella... that is such a good picture!" I responded upon laying my eyes on this gem.

And that was Ella's tree, which, other than a good swimming lesson and a pair of slacks and a shirt, was the last of the simple Father's Days gifts the kids gave Dan today.