i am elijah’s personal entertainment device.

i read books to him from dawn to dark, and even later (it gets dark at 5pm these days).  i’ve read some of his books so many times i started reading them back to front, for variety.  i make sure to read the credits, publication date and all the small print just to keep myself informed about the world.  elijah says ‘book, yomu [read].  hon[book] yomu.  etto~ [hmmm], atta! [found it].  tech, okay” [he means a book called ‘iggy peck, architect‘ ]’.  he grabs a book or two from his bookshelf and tells me, ‘mama, sit!’.  he climbs onto the sofa and points next to him.  as a japanese citizen i’m naturally obedient, so i sit and read to him as much as he wants.  whenever he finds one of my books around the house he grabs it and pretends to read it.  then he says “okay, okay” meaning i’m supposed to read it to him.  if i start reading, he gets bored right away and goes off somewhere else.  sometimes he tries to take the book with him.  i tell him ‘that’s mama’s book’.  he firmly assures me, ‘mine!’.

i’m also his jukebox.  all day long, he asks me to sing.  he’ll say, ‘zoh-san [elephant], okay~’ or ‘abc, okay!’ etc..  i sing ‘zoh-san’ in japanese and the alphabet song in english.  as soon as i finish he says ‘okay!’ and he wants me to start singing again.  this continues even when we’re eating supper or when he’s nursing or when i’m driving the car.  he doesn’t care that i’m behind the wheel and it’s icy and i have to concentrate.  he says ‘mama, cookie, okay!’.  i used to think he was asking for a cookie and i’d give him a cracker (i told him crackers are cookies).  then i figured he was wanting me to sing ‘c is for cookie’ from sesame street (he saw it on youtube) again and again.  i start singing and crash the car into a ditch… mentally.  it won’t be long till elijah finds out i’m tone deaf, maybe then he’ll start listening to different music.

finally, i’ve been appointed as his personal toy maker.  i made him a panda scarf the other day since it’s been awfully cold here in saskatoon (-25 during the day, -35 at night).  it’s not as bad as it sounds — the sky is blue and everything is covered in white snow.  it is very beautiful and painful, nice to sit inside and look out the window. anyway, as soon as elijah saw the scarf, his mouth opened wide and he said ‘OH~! PANDA~!’.  it was almost as exciting for him as the time we had supper near the yellowhead highway on the way to edmonton and he spent 20 minutes pointing at every single truck that drove by (’OH~! TRUCK!’).  i was touched that he liked the panda scarf, even though he didn’t let me put it on him at first.

ever since then i’ve become his personal toymaker and i’ve been sewing away while he is playing and sleeping.  he likes elephants very much, but he didn’t have an elephant plush toy.  so i made one for him out of felt.  it’s flat like a pillow and has six legs.  i don’t know why it ended up with six legs. i just started making legs and kept going until i reached the end of the elephant.  elijah’s first reaction to it was enthusiastic (’OH~~~ ELEPHANT!’) and i was happy he noticed it was wearing socks.   but since then my elephant is only played with occasionally, but at least it makes it into the lineup of the favorite plush toys that elijah wants to say goodnight to before he goes to sleep.

when i was 17, i used to look like this. now i’m old enough to know i shouldn’t carry a dead fish in my mouth. first of all, that fish is completely decomposed by now.

these days i can’t help but notice the large elephant ears growing over my original ears. using them, i can hear elijah’s voice/crying voice anywhere i go — even when i’m showering. when i hear his voice, i dash over to see what he’s up to. i’m always ready to rescue elijah. i’ve got mama-elephant ears.

elephants in love ♥

my mom keeps asking me to draw something cheerful. i thought i’ve been drawing something cheerful :D i guess not.

i want my mom to be happy, so i started to draw this. see! the girl is smiling :D nothing more cheerful than a girl smiling with an elephant sticking out of her belly.

it’s not done yet.

freshly drawn yesterday.

i knew something was living inside me…

UPDATE: i’ve made prints of this drawing, and postcards, available in my SHOP.

i finished my elephant recipe last night at 4am. i spent a little over 14 hours drawing. most of the time was spent colouring the elephant. you can see the details by clicking the image.

after spending so long colouring the elephant ears, i didn’t want to screw up the orange. i’d never drawn an orange before, so i grabbed an orange from the kitchen and did a quick practice sketch. i usually don’t sketch anything, because the first time is always best anyway.

i’m eating a lot of oranges these days. i got a plastic orange peeler tool that i can wear on my thumb to score the tough skin of the orange. the tart sweet orange wakes me right up, even when i’m tired from drawing all night.

my new drawing’s called: “tough skin, juicy heart”. i’ll be showing it at the broadway art encounter, starting friday.

UPDATE: i’ve made prints of this drawing, and postcards, available in my SHOP.

here are some late night drawings, just after i finished drawing the orange. i was so relieved!

it’s grey and cold in saskatoon today. so i decided to draw something grey. an elephant!

this is my second time trying to draw an elephant. my first try was in first grade, when i drew two elephants, mother and baby (smiling at me, i was in the picture too). those elephants didn’t fit on the paper. for some reason, i won a school prize for that drawing.
since then, i’ve learned to keep my elephants on the paper. my brother taught me to colour inside the lines by moving the pencil in small circles. i still use that trick.

this elephant’s head is wrinkled and slightly sad. for this drawing, i’m wearing the elephant head as a mask, or maybe a helmet (i got it as a birthday present). i’m drinking orange juice through the elephant head.

i haven’t decided on a title yet.

(click to view close up)

UPDATE: it’s called “tough skin, juicy heart“