Realist or Abstract Expressionist?

I love the way kids express themselves. Sometimes it is all very haphazard, but most of the time it is very deliberate. With really young kids, I am always left wondering what it was they were thinking and/or trying to do. My oldest is at the point where he is making very discernible pictures of actual objects and people. I love having conversations with him about his art, and what it is he has created. Big Brother usually has very elaborate stories to go with his pictures and boundless imagination.

The above picture is one of his more realistic drawings. It is the Starship Enterprise with the Borg following closely behind. The Borg ship is complete with windows and green power output lines. The Enterprise is trying to escape the Borg who are unrelenting. Can you tell he's a treky?

This is one of the elder boy's more abstract painting. When I asked him what it was, he said it was a monster shooting torpedoes. The yellow circle with the blue in the middle is one of the glowing monsters. The handprints are robots trying to help the monster. The "bad guys" have run rampant. These stories are definitely better told by the boy as he loves to add sound effects and movement through hand gestures. He is very animated. This painting actually reminds me of a peacock chasing a miniature red horse, but what do I know? He is a boy of extremes.

The littlest Bee is still in the abstract phase, but is attempting some realistic drawings. Below you can see one of his most recent creations.

The Bee claims this is a self-portait. Maybe he was channeling Salvador Dali and approached this much like a surrealist would--blonde hair as a trunk, blue eyes, body of a frog, and a newsboy cap. What is he trying to tell us about himself?