Can't Catch Me, I'm the Gingerbread Man

The holidays are a great time of year.  Good food, good family, and school projects.  The seven year old, again, the oldest, came home from school the other day with yet another completed project.  He was excited, showed it to my wife and went about his business playing with legos or something.  After a few minutes my wife asked if I had looked at the project.  I confessed I had not and she encouraged me to take a look.  I asked what it was and she said that they had decorated a picture of a gingerbread man at school.  Thus armed with great expectations I moseyed over to the table to take a look.

Now, when we think of gingerbread men what comes to mind?  Shrek has forever imprinted the standard stereotype on our minds of something that looks like this:  

I envision something cute and delicious.  Gumdrop buttons, eyes, mouth, frosting filigree, the works.   So good in fact, that a fox will try and eat one instead of his more traditional fare of chicken.

There is my gratuitous chicken photo to add space between their gingerbread man and that of my child.  You have to admit, this chicken is doing a fine job of being disguised. The real question here is if the fox will try and eat him anyway.  I figure a hungry fox would go for a flamingo, kinda like a chicken covered in cotton candy.

This was not the sight that awaited me.  This is how my son decorated the gingerbread man:

At first I didn't really know what I was looking at.  I mean, I could tell he was smiling, and he had eyes, but I was having trouble figuring out why he had a giant blue dot on his forehead.  Then, it began to dawn on me.  I scanned the picture looking for the telltale signs that the random scribbles of color were indeed purposeful and direct.  Yep, there they were.  Blue for the nerve system including the eyes, red for veins leading from the red heart and purple veins to return blood, brown for the lungs, and yellow for the urinary tract.  There is even the outline of a stomach in there.

Close up of the head: Its the little details that make it special.  The tongue, the red around the eyes, pupils, the dark creases in the blue brain.

And now the body:  Note the irregular shape of the heart, the stomach, and the shape of the lungs.  Not sure why the urinary system extends all the way up to his shoulders but clearly he has the right idea.

I asked him if the other kids decorated their gingerbread man this way.  He said no.  I can only imagine what parent teacher conferences will be like.  I am beginning to see the proof of parentage, this is my son.  One thing is for sure, if a fox is trying to eat the gingerbread man from Shrek and the one my son made, my money is on my sons.  With a heart like that he could run forever.