He noticed that his daughter had been sitting on the lounge room floor for some time, drawing.
She was using a set of coloured crayons to cover the page of a large colouring book. He took a quick peek every time he went passed. She seemed to be completely engrossed in what she was doing. As far as he could tell, it was a complicated drawing with what might be stick figures and lots of different coloured shapes. When his curiosity had finally got the better of him he went to have a closer look.
Crouching down next to her, he stared at a mass of coloured marks. He said, “So, what have we got here, sweetheart?”
She stopped scribbling and looked up. She giggled and pointed at the picture. “Can you see you?”
He squinted at it. “No,” he said, as though he was really trying.
“That’s you and that’s mummy and that’s me.”
“And the dots?”
“They’re flowers down by the lake. You know, the one near the shops. Mummy lets me play on the swings, sometimes.”
“Oh! I see them now. I don’t know what those are,” he said pointing to a cluster of tiny shapes.
“Ducks, and some other birds that I don’t know about.”
“And these?” He pointed at several brown boxes.
“They are the seats for people to sit on.” She poked at the paper. “See that there? That’s Tiddles, the cat from a cross the road.”
Pulling a funny face, he said, “Wow! How did it get there?”
She giggled again. “She walked, silly.”
As he stood up, he nodded sagely and said, “I think that’s a wonderful picture, honey.”
“Thanks,” she said, and picked up a crayon.
Minutes later, in the kitchen, he was telling his wife about the conversation.
“I know,” she said, “I could hear you.”
He looked really impressed. “I can tell you one thing, the kid’s got vision…”