Tuesday, July 1, 2008

the imagination of a three-year-old

I cannot begin to tell you the countless times I often hear about parenting, "Oh it does get easier. You will love their growth as they get older."
And I cannot begin to tell you the times I think to myself (after a sibling scratch fight, or an adamant shout of No from one of my two, or the endless asking of the same question, or the tandem screaming), "You're joking, right."

But luckily, Zander and Kaya are both cute enough to jerk me out of these thoughts of "Oh how snuggly, sweet, and quiet they were when they were tiny babies." Last night, after a particularly challenging day (a typical Monday around here) I put Zander to bed.

We went through the entire routine....that at moments I love & other moments I find exhausting.....the changing into pajamas, the going to the potty (twice of course), the search for Night-Night (which he hid, I think on purpose, to delay going to sleep), and the reading of 3 books.

Then when it was time to actually get in bed and go to sleep he looked at me with those serious dark eyes and said, "Mom, lay down with me so I can talk to ya." Of course I did thinking, boy he must have something important to talk about. And he did. The conversation is below:

Me, "So what do you want to talk about."
Zander, "The nature trail."
"What about the nature trail?"
He answers, "There was an elephant on the nature trail."
I say, "There was, what else?"
He grins at me, with those dimples shining and says,
"There was a green, red, and blue tiger there and the elephant was green with blue stripes."
"Oh really, and what were they doing?"
"They were eating pizza Mom, a bear delivered it to them."
I answer, "Really, and did you eat the pizza with them?"
"No, they ate it then I rode the tiger home and Kaya rode the elephant home. And then we had tea."
And then he looks at me with a mischievious grin and sticks his little thumb in his mouth as he snuggles deep into his bed.
I say, "Thanks for telling me about all of this Zander. I really loved your story."

I kiss him goodnight and begin to leave when he asks if he can tell me another story. Oh how I want to snuggle back in his bed and see what else is in his mind but know if I do I'll be in there every night for hours. So I say, "Why don't you think of a new story for tomorrow? That way you can tell me one every day."
And my sweet little boy answers, "Okay mom. Love you."

I can't believe in less than a month he'll be three. I can't believe that he is old enough to make up a story like that (although I think that is a great imagination, not that I'm biased at all). I can't believe how wonderful THREE is going to be for all of us. AND I can't wait to hear Zander's next story......

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we all had the imagination of a 3 year old? He is so creative, and I do think he is a genius for being able to think of such a detailed story AND tell it to you!!! Enjoy those moments...We're still working on the perfect birthday gift for such an imaginative child. Love you all!

8invitations.com said...

three is my first favorite age. it is this magical mixture of creativity and purity. zander is so precious. i wish i could tuck him in every month or so :)