On my way to the beach yesterday with my daughter, I spotted two egrets close by, and I stopped to take some pictures.
“What are you doing?†she asked, in high-pitched voice that immediately scared one of them away.
“Shhh!†I whispered and pointed. “I’m taking pictures of the egret.â€
She stared for a minute.
“You mean the big, white duck?â€
“No, the egret.â€
Pause.
“That’s an egret?†she asked, more accustomed to seeing them from a distance on the marsh.
“Yes,†I answered, and took more pictures.
“It looks like a duck,†she decided, and I dropped the subject for the moment.
We crossed over to the beach, and began our ritual of shell-collecting.
Look closely at her bag. See what season we are now preparing for? You gotta love Christmas on the beach, especially when the temperatures are in the high 70s.
On the way back from the beach, as we passed by the spot where we had seen the egret, Baby-girl asked, “Hey, where’s the duck?â€
“You mean the egret? Look, he’s moved farther away,†I answered, and pointed to the egret now in the distance.
She squinted for a minute, and then said, “Oh, yeah, there’s the duck!â€
And then, without missing a beat, in an obviously natural segue in the conversation, she asked me a question for which I have no answer, a question with all the profundity that a four-year-old can muster.
“Mommy, will we go potty in heaven?â€
How I love the 4 year old mind–the one time in your life that you can legitimately articulate your stream of consciousness and still be considered clever and adorable. The temps Up North should be dipping into the 30’s (and below) after tomorrow, so that thought of being in the the upper 70’s leading up to Christmas is mind-boggling. So, I just have to know: being a former Northerner, how do you get in the holiday spirit with out the cold temperatures and snow flurries to remind you? I love snow for Christmas through January. Come February, I’ll be ready to join you on the beach.
Isn’t that the truth? It is a rare event indeed when I verbalize my internal thoughts and someone thinks they are either clever or adorable. Yes, it was very weird our first winter here, although I did get used to it quickly. I do like snow, but my limit is about a week or two. So, we get our fix at Christmas when we travel up to Chicago and Michigan to see family and friends. And of course, last winter, we had the freak winter season, where we actually got snow on the beach, and more than once at that.
I still have my moments, though, the remnants of my northern heritage, where I can’t help but laugh when I see Santa by the beach or short-sleeved Christmas shirts or palm trees with ornaments. And interestingly, I’ve seen several Christmas trees post-season dumped on the base of people’s dunes, which may be done to offer the dune some protection, but honestly, I don’t really even know.
When my son was four, and asked me why our guinea pig had died, and I gave him a carefully worded, perfect explanation of the circle of life, God’s wisdom, etc. I then said, “Does that help, Sweetie?” In response, he looked up at me from his Star Wars toys, rolled his eyes and said, “I’m so silly, Momma; I’ve got my Millenium Falcon upside down!” You gotta love kids’ ability to move on from the hard stuff! 🙂
Too funny! I can just picture it. We have certainly had similar moments. I almost have to pause and think for a moment when I get a response like that, because I’m so focused on crafting my words correctly that I don’t immediately get that their minds have already moved on. And then, if what I said was somewhat important, I sit and deliberate over whether to redirect them so they’ll get my point or whether I should just let it go. Letting it go tends to work better, obviously. 🙂