Skwakkel=Scarecrow

I love to hear my husband heartily laugh. The sound of his laughter really does my heart good, but he's not the type of person that readily laughs...last night he did and here is the reason why:

Jari was drawing pictures and then asked me to show him how to draw a skwakkel! I was looking at what he had already drawn and asked if he wanted me to draw a snowman as he had a head with a hat on it. No, that's not what he wanted? A pilgrim maybe? NO! A skwakkel!!! He goes on to draw stick hands and tell me that it's the skwakkel that has arms like this. My head is totally focussed on snowman...Jari's obviously not as he started getting more vocal and louder, angrily repeating over and over "Skwakkel, Skwakkel, Skwakkel!" I turned to my husband who was smiling on the couch...do you have any idea what he wants? He walks over to look at the drawing. Hmmm, maybe a Quaker?! :-) I then ask Jari if he wants a squirrel...sounds similar even though I don't know where he's going with the stick hands. No, no squirrel! Suddenly Erwin says "A scarecrow!" Yeah! Jari is impressed and relieved that someone finally knows what he wants to draw. Erwin walks away with his shoulders shaking in laughter repeating Skwakkel over and over again. He tells me that's a story I need to put in jari's baby book! I turn Jari's beginning drawing into a full fledged "Skwakkel" with straw around his arms and legs and stand him on a stick with a bird sitting on his shoulder. Jari starts again and creates his own "Skwakkel" with the precision that is his trademark. After that, he decided that my idea about drawing a squirrel is also a good one and he draws his squirrel. I am impressed with my son's drawing abilities. At age 4, he's got a great start. And with his ability to make his Papa laugh, I'd say he's got more than one talent to "draw" upon.