Steel Trap

Lately we’ve been utterly astounded by the memory of this three year old.  Case in point:

A few months ago James and Jake were up early and on their way out to the car.  It was still dark outside and Jakey asks, “Where’s the taxi car?  Are we going on an airplane, Daddy?”  Last time he left the house in the morning and it was dark outside was in May… when we took a taxi to the airport.  That was almost 9 months ago.

Last week James was getting the kiddos dressed and was pulling a shirt over Jake’s head that has a graphic picture of a french bulldog.  “Daddy, where are those people with the white truck?  And the doggie?”  He was remembering a morning in December when we met Alesia, Charles and their daughter Eleanor for coffee.  We walked them back to their truck to say goodbye and pet their french bulldog, Gallagher.

Then yesterday, James and I went to pick the boys up from school.  We saw Jake peeking out the window, wedged between the glass and the blinds.

Once inside, we began the new and lengthy process of wrangling him into leaving his new classroom, “Wait, I forgot somesing!  I need to get my car.”
“What car?”
“My orange car.”
“Where did you leave it?”
“It was in my cubby.  It’s missing!  Somebody taked it.”
“What orange car?”
“My orange car.  We got it at the milk shop.  Last time I had it.”
“The milk shop?”
“When we had smoodies.  Last time I put it in my cubby.”
“Smoothies?”
“It’s a sticker.  I had it right there.  Somebody taked it.  Last time…”
“Huh?  Is it a car or a sticker?”
“It’s a sticker.  It’s a puzzle!”
Now I’m completely puzzled.  Is he making this up as some kind of stalling tactic?  This is crazy talk.
“Is it a car, a sticker or a puzzle?”
“When we watched airplanes.”
“OK, I don’t know what we’re looking for.  You can find it tomorrow, let’s go.”
Frustration builds… insistent pleas follow.
Just in the nick of time, Daddy finds it on the window sill behind the blinds.

It’s a 3×3 inch square piece of paper… made up of stickers… that were a puzzle… that once placed properly, created a picture… of an orange car… parked in front of In ‘N Out Burger… where we drank milkshakes and watched airplanes… in October.