Shark made of cardboard!

(This is a blog translated into English using chat GPT）

Yesterday evening, Emi-chan had her usual English conversation class, and I had a Zoom meeting, while Fionn had some alone playtime in the living room. Then, when the meeting ended and I went to the kitchen to prepare dinner, Fionn showed me this!

It’s a shark made out of cardboard! Isn’t it amazing and three-dimensional? By the way, before the meeting started, Fionn said, “Mommy, I want cardboard, please!” So, I cut out the lid part of a box from Gokun Haji-mura and gave it to him.

You can’t tell from the still picture, but the tail part can move up and down, curving slightly just like a real shark when it swims. And of course, its mouth can open and close! Isn’t that incredible?

Fionn made sure to create a cut in the body part to give it a rounded shape. It was quite cleverly done. What’s even more surprising is that when making this, Fionn didn’t look at a shark doll or a picture to imitate it. He just reproduced the shape of the shark that was floating in his mind.

He always says the same thing when drawing too, “Just mimic the picture in your brain!” He says it so naturally as if it’s obvious. I thought I could do it too, but I can’t visualize such clear pictures! My nephew also says the same thing.

Since we’re at it, let me introduce the drawing my nephew shared on the story the other day. He held a ballpoint pen in each hand and quickly drew these illustrations while moving both pens at the same time. He asked, “Hey, what do you want me to draw?” And when I said, “A horse!” he drew it smoothly without looking at anything. Isn’t that amazing? And he’s only 10 years old!

Well, my paternal grandfather was also a painter, and my uncle was so skilled at drawing that he aimed for an art university. My sister Yuna-chan is also really good at drawing. We have a lot of artistic people in our family.

Fionn, who seems to have inherited that artistic DNA, lost his wobbly front tooth while he was asleep yesterday! This is his second one!

Tonight, I’ll put it under the pillow. The Tooth Fairy will come and exchange it for money by tomorrow morning. I’m really looking forward to it!

They repeatedly asked me, “It won’t be Mommy and Daddy, right?” But I assured them, “Definitely not!” I wonder how long they’ll believe in things like this.