Rip it up

Without much fanfare, Fergus has developed - over the past 6 months or so - this love of making little tokens for people. He is very sneaky about it. We’ll show up at birthday parties and out pops a small drawing or a little cut out guy or even a homemade lego creation. Each item has great significance to him, is well thought out, is crafted under a shroud of secrecy, and is presented (or not) in the most coy manner imaginable.

While in Penticton this past weekend, Ferg received some gifts in honour of his upcoming birthday. From his cousins Mini and Phi (and their parents) he got a notebook, some stickers and a special pen and when he opened the presents he immediately tossed the notebook at me since it was, rather rudely, concealing a horde of candy at the bottom of the bag. But later that night he became devoted to drawing a picture in his new book, a picture that appeared to require several drafts to get just right. Ferg made a point of not allowing any of us to see what he was up to and - to get us off his scent - he told us it was “just a drawing of some aliens and spaceships and people fighting and stuff”.

In the end, what he drew was a picture of Mini complete with stickers, her name and his signature “F”. Here’s the result:


And here’s the normally camera-dodging Fergus asking me to take a picture of him recreating the act of drawing a picture of, and for, Mini:


The next day he cut out his drawing and at one point seemed determined to present it to his cousin. Not ten seconds later however, he either got self-conscious or consumed by shyness or in some way the drawing no longer met to his approval, and he ripped it in half and crumpled the pieces into a ball (I later presented it to Gini with strict instructions not to ever let Ferg see that it had been rescued).

Final product or no final product, I think the fact that Ferg wanted to make something so genuine for his cousin is rather telling. In fact, just moments before we headed for home, he presented Mini with a couple of silver stars stuck to some paper and cut from his notebook (perhaps they signified a “job well done” - she was on lunch break from her first day at a new school). Like his Dad however, his presentation (or plating) skills may need some, shall we say, refinement.

On this particular trip, Fergus even appeared to enjoy playing and relaxing with his younger cousin Phi.


Of course, this is something that he would not currently admit to.