When I was little, I was the reigning champion of the card game Memory. No one could beat me… and by no one I mean my little brother and my grandma. Over the years, it’s a skill that has served me well… until it was passed on to my eldest offspring.
Around Christmas we were watching Chicken Little on demand and Jake says, “Oh yeah, I’ve seen this before. We watched it before we had Nate. Look, look— he’s going to strap a bottle to his back and fly and then his paper underpants will fill up with water and fall off.” And of course that’s exactly what proceeded to happen. I really do think he saw this movie “before we had Nate.” I may have to see how far Comcast bill history is kept online.
In any case, this is just one of dozens of examples. Dr. Antsy says he’ll forget all these things in a few years, but I’m not so sure.
My second case in point is what I call The Mystery of the Jeep. If you’ve been with me for awhile, you’ll know that I’ve been writing about Jake’s request for a green Jeep… for over three years. There have been no less than four posts on this topic. First we thought he wanted a toy Jeep. He got two toy Jeeps, but neither of them were right. Then he told us he wanted to drive it. And finally, Jake and Nate did in fact use their organic egg selling proceeds to buy a previously-owned, drivable, child-size Jeep, in red, from Granddad’s neighbor. Which they love to crash into flower beds and run over each others’ limbs with.
So the other day we’re driving the boys to school and randomly, out of the blue, Jake exclaims, “This is where I saw the kid driving the green Jeep I want.” He was referring to the sidewalk that goes past the front of our preschool. The sidewalk we drive past twice daily. I silently pondered this new piece of evidence… three years after this interminable topic first appeared.
“Really? Right here is where you saw a kid with a green, drivable Jeep that you’ve wanted all this time?” I’m sure my sarcastic disbelief was much more subtle in the moment.
A week or two later, we’re pulling out of the school parking lot at the end of the day and Jakey cries out, “Mom, Mom! There’s the green Jeep, there it is!”
And wouldn’t you know… two little boys are merrily driving a convertible, grass green, Tonka-esque Jeep along the sidewalk, on their way to the park. It’s exactly how this child has been describing the mythical Jeep since he was two years old. Exactly.
There is a boy that looks to be about Jake’s age, as well as a littler boy riding along side him.
“It used to be just one kid. He must have gotten that other kid later.”
And knowing Jakey, he’s probably right.
Mystery solved.
