Is That Raccoon Eating E.T.'s Head?

One of the great joys of being a parent as any parent can attest is watching your child discover something for the first time. Of course, when your child is a preschooler, such discovery is inevitably accompanied by several questions, many of which are the “why” variety. At first, watching your child’s brain working, formulating questions feels you with great pride, thinking, “My child is so smart, so inquisitive.” After several hours of “why” questions, however, I dare even the most patient, caring parent to not feel a little insane.

I received an email from my friend, Josh, in response to a blog in which I wrote about Jude discovering Spiderman and Josh mentioned that made him think about his own childhood. Although I smiled and nodded at this, I realized that, with two boys, there is not a strong likelihood that I would have that same feeling as my sons discovered something I enjoyed in my childhood. After all, my childhood obsession (yep, obsession) was with Strawberry Shortcake. Not the Strawberry of today, with her blue jeans and puppy, but the Strawberry of my childhood, the one with the red-and-white dress and white-and -green striped tights. Many nights I spent reading books with a flashlight under my Strawberry Shortcake sleeping bag and days were spent playing with Strawberry Shortcake and her kitty, Custard, as well as her whole collection of lightly-scented friends (and I think that we should, as adults, all hope to have lightly-scented friends).

Jude did recently discover something that I loved as a child: the movie “E.T.” I was eight years old and it was the first movie I saw at the theater twice: once with my mom and once with my dad. I am enjoying watching Jude fall in love with E.T., so much so that I try to be very patient with the questions: “What is E.T. doing?” “He’s getting dressed to go trick-or-treat?” “Why is he going trick-or-treating?” “Because it is Halloween.” “Why is it Halloween?” (There really isn’t a good answer to that last question, but it is similar to the exchange we had this morning: “Put your hood up. It’s cold outside.” “Why is it cold outside?” “Because it is winter.” “Why is it winter?” “Because it is just that time of year.” “Oh, it’s that time of year.”) Of course in the midst of the movie-related questions, Jeff glanced at the TV screen and asked, “Is that raccoon eating E.T.’s head?” (It was not.)

It was nine degrees when we headed out this morning. Nine. I have been back to work for a little over a week and life is pretty hectic, as we are constantly running. But Jude is a good assistant and Sully is an easygoing kid, as long as he is well fed and gets his sleep (though not nearly enough of that sleep comes at night). Today, Sullivan is eight weeks old.

Songs of the day: “Chestnut Mare” by the Byrds, as I am nostalgic today and this song makes me think of an old friend and “A Girl Like You” by Pete Yorn because it makes me happy.