Jman Art: Harold's Rocket Ship (and the art of conversation!)

Just a little while ago I walked into Jman's room while he was in the midst of coloring in this drawing of his. I commented on the amazingly cool train layout he had going around his room and out into the hallway, and then simply stopped to watch him color for a bit.

And that's when the beautiful stuff happened.

Like I said, instead of talking at him, or trying to get him to respond, or anything, I just stopped and watched him color. And that gave him time and space.

And he said to me, as he continued coloring, "Black." (He was coloring outer space, but with a blue crayon. My interpretation: He needed a black crayon, but was making do with what was left in the box. It was both an observation and a sort of request, though he clearly was NOT expecting me to hand him a black crayon because he just kept on working with what he had.)

I answered that I guess we needed to buy some new crayons.

Then he said, "Rocket ship." (He paused in his coloring just long enough to point at the rocket as he spoke, and then promptly resumed filling in outer space again. Yep, that's a rocket ship, all right.)

Then he said, "Purple." (Quickly after the rocket ship comment, he pointed to a small area of outer space where he had apparently initially begun coloring with a dark purple. In addition, he may have been letting me know where the picture came from, in case I didn't already recognize it.)

I observed that he was drawing a picture from a nearby book on his bed, "Harold's Trip to the Sky" by Crockett Johnson. Remember the Harold and the Purple Crayon books? Fabulous books! And Jman has been enjoying them again recently. And drawing lots of pictures from them. And coloring in the pictures in the books as well. Great books.

Right after my comment, Jman piped up again with, "White baby." (He pointed at his drawing of Harold on the rocket ship. Yep, Harold was white, and he was a 'baby.' Thus, in this color dominated conversation, Jman so eloquently elaborated and described more of his drawing for me!).

I commented, "Yep, that's Harold!" And Jman continued finishing the coloring in of outer space.

Is that an AMAZING conversation, or what? I mean, seriously, for a man of few words, such as Jman, that was QUITE the conversation! And HE started it! And kept going with it! And it all made perfect SENSE! No scripting. Nice turn taking. On topic. Great elaboration. Mutually interesting to us both. Relevant. Sharing. Not trying to "get" anything from anyone. I was not trying to get words or attention. He wasn't trying to get anything from me either, just sharing about what he was working on, while I was seeming interested by standing there just watching for a few moments (and I genuinely WAS interested!). It's totally the kind of conversation ANY kid might have with their mom when mom walks in and sees the kid is drawing a picture--the same KIND of conversation, but with a LOT fewer words, of course!

Anyway, I was just fascinated. What a cool thing. It also reminded me of several other things he took the time to show me today, mostly when I walked in to see what he was doing, but once when he actually brought something to me just to show me. I guess he just wanted me to see what he'd made. Way cool.

So, Jman art--both his drawing AND his art of conversation! Who'd've thunk? :) I'm so glad I didn't go in and start asking him questions or start commenting myself on what he was doing! Less is more. Just give Jman time and space to think, and he can blow you away! I love that boy!