Friday, March 25, 2011

Dashiell and the Purple Crayon






Oh how I adore my little guy!  Last Sunday we had a photo party brunch at our house, and Meghan of Megpix Photography came over, set up a backdrop, and took pictures of us and a whole pile of our friends (photos from that are forthcoming).  She left the paper backdrop on the floor so we could have fun coloring on it.  And boy did we have fun coloring!  Dashiell first started out scribbling, then he noticed that he had in his hand a PURPLE CRAYON!!!  Just like Harold in one of his favorite books, Harold and the Purple Crayon (which, if you haven't read, go pick it up RIGHT NOW.  It's cute and clever and so creative!).  So he asked if we could draw like Harold.  He handed me his crayon and started narrating - get this - in first person!  As if HE, Dashiell Hanson, was Harold.  It. Was. Awesome.  He's read the book a million times so he knows it by heart.  He was narrating pretty quickly, so I had to scribble as fast as I could!  And I didn't set up our canvas well - it's a bit all over the place.  But it was so fun hearing Dashiell pretending to be Harold - "Luckily, I kept my wits and my purple crayon", "I made all nine pies I like best!" 

Here he is after the purple crayon dropped to the ground and "Harold" dropped off to sleep:


You all know I believe reading is important, and I hope that D continues to love reading throughout his life, but this activity reinforced how fun reading is and can be - how cool is it that Dash was so inspired by a book that he felt the need to act it out?  And the fact that the book incorporates drawing?  How much better does it get?

1 comment:

Lori/RachelsMommy said...

Awesome! We have that book too, but we have not enjoyed it as much as Dash yet! Cute pictues:)...