Early Child Development and Care 479 It is interesting to notice that both children practically never draw at the same time (when one is drawing, the other watches carefully, sometimes by making comments out loud, sometimes by remaining silent). Transitions from one stage to the next are most of the time stated by Emma, in an authoritative tone: 'so you draw yourself now'(5 min 30 s),so afterwards we will draw Minette(8 min 31 s), we are done'(10 min 47 s). One will notice that both children represent the figures the same sex as theirs. The interaction story is extremely rich. It sometimes concerns facts that seem very important for the family itself. Thus, if Leo starts representing his father as he wishes to do, his sister asks him quite specif ically to draw the father's right arm in such a way as to make him extend his hand towards the mother, not yet drawn but certainly already in Emma's imagination: Put your arms extended like this, that way mom can hold hands(1 min 49 s). Leo will follow this strong advice by completing his drawing with the detail of this right hand at the end of the arm. Another important question, concerning the characters size, persists throughout the major part of the interaction. In fact, this question will deal first with the relation between the sizes of father and mother, and second, with those of both children in relation to the parents We will examine this question very closely by limiting ourselves to the negotiation of both parents' sizes. The whole of this takes place between 0 min 50 s and 4 min 30 s, when Leo starts drawing the father and when Emma finishes drawing the mother Analysing the size representation of father and mother Figures prior to the erasing Leo represents Dad in front of him, starting the drawing with the feet. After a fruitless attempt, he completely erases what he drew then starts the work again and finishes it by tracing precisely the hand's five fingers. He then informs his sister that he is through, with- out any oral statement but looking at her laughingly. It is at this moment that Emma starts drawing Mom's representation, so mom(.)I will draw mom(2 min 26 s). Her brother watches her attentively, saying: hey look at her, isn't she skinny mom you should've put on a skirt, she looks like a little girl (laughs) mom looks like a little girl doesn't she do them bigger her feet(3 seconds) er put her some earrings on(from 3 min 59 s to 4 min 14s. At this stage, both parents are drawn; they are side by side and hold each others hand. After one last graphic precision about her mothers character(the ears), Emma concludes verbally thats it' and initiates the next step with an ok your turn'addressed to her brother. One could expect both children to start something else, for example their own representation. It is at this very moment that Emma notices the size difference between the two adults they just represented. Any researcher having access to the final draft, as it is at the end of the session, wi notice that some lines have been erased. He will not know however when it has been done He cannot guess that it was first the father who had been shortened and that the mother had an opposite fate; he cannot guess who did the erasing. He can only speculate about these events. It is not impossible however that this may be of great importance for the interpretation of the siblings graphic production. The method we adopted to build data provides us with a precious edge: we have the drawings history script of the conversation extract What follows is the transcript of the negotiation between both children regarding their parents respective size. The fact that we have filmed provides us with precious observa- tions: the gestures and tracings. They are marked with brackets. It is however impossibleEarly Child Development and Care 479 It is interesting to notice that both children practically never draw at the same time (when one is drawing, the other watches carefully, sometimes by making comments out loud, sometimes by remaining silent). Transitions from one stage to the next are most of the time stated by Emma, in an authoritative tone: ‘so you draw yourself now’ (5 min 30 s), ‘so afterwards we will draw Minette’ (8 min 31 s), ‘we are done’ (10 min 47 s). One will notice that both children represent the figures the same sex as theirs. The interaction story is extremely rich. It sometimes concerns facts that seem very important for the family itself. Thus, if Leo starts representing his father as he wishes to do, his sister asks him quite specif￾ically to draw the father’s right arm in such a way as to make him extend his hand towards the mother, not yet drawn but certainly already in Emma’s imagination: ‘Put your arms extended like this, that way mom can hold hands’ (1 min 49 s). Leo will follow this strong advice by completing his drawing with the detail of this right hand at the end of the arm. Another important question, concerning the character’s size, persists throughout the major part of the interaction. In fact, this question will deal first with the relation between the sizes of father and mother, and second, with those of both children in relation to the parents. We will examine this question very closely by limiting ourselves to the negotiation of both parents’ sizes. The whole of this takes place between 0 min 50 s and 4 min 30 s, when Leo starts drawing the father and when Emma finishes drawing the mother. Analysing the size representation of father and mother Figures prior to the erasing Leo represents Dad in front of him, starting the drawing with the feet. After a fruitless attempt, he completely erases what he drew then starts the work again and finishes it by tracing precisely the hand’s five fingers. He then informs his sister that he is through, with￾out any oral statement but looking at her laughingly. It is at this moment that Emma starts drawing Mom’s representation, ‘so mom (…) I will draw mom’ (2 min 26 s). Her brother watches her attentively, saying: ‘hey look at her, isn’t she skinny mom you should’ve put on a skirt, she looks like a little girl (laughs) mom looks like a little girl doesn’t she do them bigger her feet (3 seconds) er put her some earrings on’ (from 3 min 59 s to 4 min 14 s). At this stage, both parents are drawn; they are side by side and hold each other’s hand. After one last graphic precision about her mother’s character (the ears), Emma concludes verbally ‘that’s it’ and initiates the next step with an ‘ok your turn’ addressed to her brother. One could expect both children to start something else, for example their own representation. It is at this very moment that Emma notices the size difference between the two adults they just represented. Any researcher having access to the final draft, as it is at the end of the session, will notice that some lines have been erased. He will not know however when it has been done. He cannot guess that it was first the father who had been shortened and that the mother had an opposite fate; he cannot guess who did the erasing. He can only speculate about these events. It is not impossible however that this may be of great importance for the interpretation of the sibling’s graphic production. The method we adopted to build data provides us with a precious edge: we have the drawing’s history. Transcript of the conversation extract What follows is the transcript of the negotiation between both children regarding their parent’s respective size. The fact that we have filmed provides us with precious observa￾tions: the gestures and tracings. They are marked with brackets. It is however impossible