When my daughter Emmy was 3 years old, she was referred to both speech and occupational therapies by her doctor because she was falling so behind in both areas. At her first OT assessment taken at 3 years 4 months, her crayon holding and drawing skills were tested at an 18-month-old level. Around the same time, she seriously got into watching Super Meat Boy gameplay and got obsessed. One of the first things her therapist wanted her to work on was drawing squares. How perfect! It took lots of practice but around the time when she turned 4 her first squares wound up being endless Meat Boys and Bandage Girls. At first she would go through 50+ pieces of copy paper a day, simply drawing pictures of them that took up the entire page over and over.

Soon she would learn to draw them a little smaller so she could start telling us stories about what was going on in the picture.

(one of her very first attempts at Dr. Fetus kidnapping Bandage Girl)

(proudly showing off her work)

In only 1 year and 4 months at age 4 ½, she “graduated” from OT and was caught up to at or above age level. From an 18-month-old’s drawing skills to a 5-year-old level in such a short time was surely the result of her passion for these characters. She needed something to love to draw to help her catch up.

Now she will be 6-years-old in a little over a week, and it’s hard to believe she ever had a problem with holding a crayon. Drawing is now her biggest strength and she even won the “class artist” award this June in pre-school. Now she draws lots of characters and real people alike still going through 50+ sheets of paper a day, but now they are much more colorful and expressive. I especially love the Dr. Fetus she draws now, and it’s what prompted me to make this post when I thought of those early drawings and how far she’s come.

Super Meat Boy also now leaves his little “sauce” trails (as she calls it) everywhere now. Bandage Girl is not always being kidnapped also btw. Sometimes they have a picnic. Sometimes they are getting married. Sometimes they are just out on a sunny day.

I’m saving everything so one day she can realize how much these guys changed her life so fast.