Bears and Monsters

Our drive to Montessori takes us down a wooded lane. Sam's compared it to a jungle, with some excitement. At first he postulated that it was full of lions and tigers, but at some point this changed to bears and... monsters. (More appropriate to a temperate zone, I guess.) Now recall that there are three of us in the car--Sam, Daddy and Max. This morning he told Max we were entering a jungle, and when Max acted scared he reassured him, saying, There's no such thing as bears and monsters--they're make-pretend.

When this happened a few days ago I tried to convince him that bears really exist, and it's just monsters which aren't real. But I can see where he gets this. We constantly tell him there aren't any monsters (he doesn't know yet about middle management), but then we read books about monsters to him--And in half the books the monsters are real! So it's no surprise he doesn't quite buy it when I tell him that bears are real. Grasping for evidence I said I would ask Aunt Amy for a photo of one. AA, did you see any in Yellowstone? (The only bears we've seen in zoos are Asian bears which don't look at all like bears. Sun Bears, I think they are called.)

Speaking of Max, Sam and I were out on a cold night a few days ago, and Sam pulled his hands up his sleeves and said that his maxes were in their houses. He wasn't even saying it to get a reaction--just being matter-of-fact about it. Took me a moment to figure out what he was even saying.

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Yesterday Susan was with Sam while he used the bathroom. Afterwards he dutifully washed his hands, and dried them, and then let the towel drop to the floor. Susan told him not to do this and while he was off doing his thing she went and replaced the towel. I guess this must not be a rare occurrence, because when he next went to use the bathroom he said to her, You keep changing that towel, as if to say, Are you sure you don't have a mild case of OCD?



They say that children are the best demonstration of the Calvinist doctrine of total depravity, and at times it's true. They also are dramatically self-focused in a way which can at times be endearing. Last night after Sam's bath we three were having a little giggly love-fest on the bed while getting him in his jammies. Susan asked in a grave voice if Sam knew Mommy loves him. I jumped in and added that Daddy does too. Sam, awash in all this love, laid back, smiling happily, and said, "You both love me!"