The other day I wandered upstairs while the kids were testing out new video games with James. They were playing Little Big Planet, a game in which everything appears to be made out of knitted fabric. Before you go all, "aww, how cute," I'll just note that this includes skeletons and a bunch of other odd stuff that can be combined to somewhat disturbing effect. I took one look at this screen and guessed that Tucker had created the character on the left; Emi the character on the right:

It wasn't just that this odd creature resembled Emi "dressed up" to go out. Emi shuns traditionally girly items like princess dresses and hair elastics (and hairbrushes, for that matter - she is growing up a bit wild, like Lyra in the "His Dark Materials" series). However, she enjoys putting together her own unique outfits and doesn't shy away from combining, for instance, swimming goggles and gold lame.

In fact, Tuck has always tended to depict himself as a round-headed, plain faced character. I remember when the kids were about 3, at Baker Language and Learning preschool in Seattle, they came home with a big special project, a round face they had decorated as a self portrait. Emi's had yarn hair, glitter glue eyelashes, etc. Tuck's had two dot eyes and a flat line for a mouth. At the time, I wrote this off to a lack of fine motor skills. Reproduction:

But seeing the kids' Little Big Planet characters, where fine motor skills are not an issue, has made me wonder. (Tuck is also by now an accomplished artist by pre-K standards.) Children first begin to recognize their image in a mirror around 9 months of age. Faithful readers of this blog or those who knew us at that time will recall that Tuck wore a helmet to correct plagiocephaly (also known as flat-head syndrome) from ages 7-12 months. You may recall the amusing related incident with the orangutans at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Tuck had to wear that helmet 23.5 hours/day, with only half an hour off in the evenings for a bath, hairwashing, and hair drying. Is it possible that he developed an image of himself as a round, blank-headed person at this time? Will he ever be able to change this self-image? Stay tuned, maybe for a few decades or so.