B is drawing!

Can you tell I'm psyched?! OK, before I get gushing, this picture is of "Morenaite", which is a Pokeman creature that B created, based (of course) on a mole rat (Rufus was the model for the drawing). I have written "mo-re-na-i-te" in the hiragana alphabet at the top, & our Japanese teacher, Tomoko wrote it out for B in kanji right below. He is saying "naco!" which is what Rufus in Kim Possible likes to say (his favourite food :) & it's also written in hiragana.

OK, back to the gush... As I mentioned here a week or so ago, B & I had done some drawing together during winter break (the resulting picture of Rusagi is posted below). He had dreamed-up the Morenaite & I had written the hiragana for him, & even the talk-bubble, but he lost interest in drawing... until yesterday's Japanese lesson (go fig). We were talking about manga again & Tomoko revealed a heretofore hidden talent for drawing manga, which really fired B up! He showed her his Rusagi picture (& I showed her some of my manga-drawing attempts) & she proceded to draw us some amazing pictures... I had strongly suspected that Japanese folks would have a leg-up when it comes to drawing because their written language is, essentially, pictures, & watching Tomoko draw confirmed this opinion. It was like watching her write kanji- just gorgeous. So B decided it was time to draw Moranaite & you can see the result. I think it's wonderful! B has an eye for capturing the essence of what he draws & I've seen this before in his drawings, but his interest in drawing has been very limited in the past due to his fine-motor skill difficulties, & compounded by his visual perceptual difficulties. He was never interested in colouring books & has had to be strongly encouraged & supported at school when it comes to drawing/illustrating/colouring. He now seems much more comfortable with not only drawing, but erasing- something he used-to despise (erasible coloured pencils are helping, too).

He decided that he wanted to draw during choir practise this morning at church, rather than read, so we packed everything up in a tote bag & he created 6 more drawings of Pokeman creatures in about an hour & a half. He has been dreaming-up these creatures & describing them in detail to us (listing them, really), so it is soooo cool to see him feel competent to draw them. I have waited a very long time to see him enjoy the process of drawing. All of the patience has really paid-off!! :)