Some time last fall, out of desire to snuggle with my rarely-still 3 year old, I started "snuggling" with him at bedtime. This consists of he and I cuddling and chatting for awhile before he/we fall asleep. Frequently (but not ideally, I realize), I fall asleep and wake up 30 minutes to 3 hours later...more recently Paul's been getting me after a half-hour so I don't snooze the whole night away (although it is bliss when that happens). So the point of this post isn't to just explain the "Snuggle Buggle" as well call it, but to relay exchanges that Jake and I've had over the past 2 nights. For those who haven't seen him lately, he is in full-on questioning mode...wants to know "why" about everything, and it's quite amazing seeing how he is trying to figure out his world and how we all fit into it. He's been asking alot of questions about God and Jessie and my grandparents, and, while I've been able to circumvent explaining death to him so far, we're right around the corner because he's realizing that something doesn't add up...like, where do these people go, anyway? It's funny, as a psychologist (almost), I know exactly what I'd tell Mrs. Doe, mother of Johnny Doe, about death....but when it comes time for me to tell my own 3 year old...I just don't want to go there. I don't want to scare him....and don't want him to be aware of his own mortality any sooner than he has to. But boy oh boy, isn't that MY stuff all over the place (psychologist/friends, you know what I'm talking about). I'M just not ready for him to start worrying about what will happen when we are gone......heck, I had to talk to him this week because I found out that he had been saying the f-word at daycare. The f-word! We're boggled as to where he got that from....we (and by we, I mean I) learned my lesson last summer after the "what the hell was that" incident. We'd have to be nuts to think that ANYTHING that we utter around this child will not get back to us. Anyway, we talked to Jake and told him that it was a very dirty word and we did not use it. I told my Dad that I was ready to send him off to Catholic school at this point, when he reminded me that Catholic school is EXACTLY where I learned the f-word...in the 1st Grade, after it had been carved in the bathroom stall!!! But I digress (again and again and again)....I just wanted to share a few snippets from our last 2 snuggle buggles....
Last night:
Jake: (completely out of the blue) "I don't like dinosaurs. Or monsters. Or sharks."
Me: "Well, Jake...you don't have to worry about dinosaurs because the are none on the Earth anymore, and monsters are just pretend, and sharks are only in the water, and as long as you stay near mommy and daddy in the water, you will be safe."
Jake: "There's nothing living under my bed because it's too dark."
Me: (this poor kid...time to get out the "anti-monster" (AKA a squirt bottle filled with water) spray..a stellar idea that I came across to banish monsters hiding in little children's bedrooms... "Jake, there is nothing at all living under your bed. Remember we just cleaned under there and it's empty."
End of discussion.
And tonight:
Jake (looking at his fish tank): "I used to live in there."
Me: "Where?!"
Jake: "With the other fishies when I was a fish."
Me: "Jake, when were you a fish?"
Jake: "I used to be a fish and I swam in the water with the other fishies."
Jake: "The fishies are hungry."
Me: "Jake, Daddy already fed the fish."
End of discussion.
I love, love, love these little moments. He's such an amazing little guy, and I'm so amazed by how his brain works. I know that someday I'm going to have to wean him from the snuggle buggle, and it will suck. But I'm not doing it yet. It's priceless.
