Life in kid world

Children have a rich life. It's even richer in their heads. I have always enjoyed seeing the world through my kids' eyes. It really cracks me up. Some of my recent favorites:

6. The dog talks, but only to Mommy.

I love being the personal interpreter for the dog. Such power! You see, our dog talks, but only I understand her. My children keep asking me "what's she saying now?" I guess my suggestions that "she doesn't like that when you [jump on her, hit her, poke her in the eye, pull her ears, lick her eyeball, etc.]" have somehow brought my kids to believe that I am actually listening to some secret language that only the dog and I share. What is strange to me is why children are so much more responsive to the secret language of the dog than they are to the language I am using with them.

5. Time has nothing to do with a clock.

Both the kids are at different places in the understanding of time, but neither of them are quite there yet on the clock. What they DO understand is that there are specific times for things and they live their lives by those times. When Orion asks what time it is, he will only be confused if you tell him "4:30." What he really wants to know is whether or not it is "snack time" and if he can argue you into it if it's not.

4. Stories ALWAYS begin with "Once upon a time."

It doesn't matter if the story is "Once upon a time, I want soup." If it starts with "Once upon a time", it is a story. If it doesn't, it is NOT a story. Period.

3. A knock, knock joke is absolutely anything that starts with "knock, knock." You had better laugh.

2. Years are not what you think they are.

A year is not 12 months, 52 weeks, or 365 days. A year is "my birthday" and a lot of other days that just don't matter.

1. The dark is scary, but only if you don't have a flashlight.

Yesterday, it took me 30 minutes to get Orion to put his shoes on because his feet were afraid of his shoes. "It's dark in there!" Anything dark is currently "spooky" or "scary". But, the current favorite game is to turn out the lights and sit in the dark, passing around a flashlight, telling stories. Which all begin with "Once upon a time..."