Conversations with a Child
I’m thinking this might be a running item here. We parents are crazy. We all think our kids are the cutest kids ever (some obviously aren’t, sorry folks) and the smartest little rugrats on the planet. The reality that so few parents are able to see where and when their kids are going wrong doesn’t surprise me because it is easy to hold your child in such high regard because you love them so much. Doesn’t excuse it, I can just see how it happens.
But enough about my parental rant, on to the conversation:
We were sitting at dinner yesterday evening with my parents and brother to celebrate my wife’s 30th birthday. My two and a half year old son was sitting to my right, my wife to my left and my parents and brother across the table. The little angel was loudly playing with his cars, sometimes sending them zooming wildly across the table to Grammie. In the midst of his play he randomly and adoringly looks up at me and says, “Daddy, I need you forever.”
In an amazing coincidence, the extreme dustiness of the establishment we were in really started to get to me. It was either that or the pollen off the fake plants on the ledge just to my right. I found myself blinking rapidly and reaching for my napkin in an effort to combat the effect.
As everyone else at the table started to respond, mostly to my dust/pollen averse reaction, my son realized he had created an audience. With a huge grin on his face he followed up that fine comment with, “Just for pretend”.
We all cracked up. I laughed so hard I cried (imagine that). Enjoying the laughter he tacked on another gem with all the gusto he could manage, “I’m just kidding me! I’m just kidding me!”.
It was a fine series of moments.
