We all have them, our early childhood memories. My first memory involves getting lost in a post office and finally grabbing onto what I thought were my mom's legs- instead they belonged to a really tall man. Ack!!!
Jack will bring things up some times and it just astounds me the detail with which he remembers some things. I am talking about stuff from when he was about 16 months old. A few months ago, he asked me if I remembered the time I let him cry and cry in his crib and he dropped his favorite plane and couldn't reach it. This must have been one of those times I was trying to ahem, "transition" him to his crib. So wanting to test if this was really a memory or just my dramatic child's imagination, I asked him to describe the plane. He looked at me like I was a moron and told me that it was the blue one with the green propeller and red bolt. Well duh
Jack will bring things up some times and it just astounds me the detail with which he remembers some things. I am talking about stuff from when he was about 16 months old. A few months ago, he asked me if I remembered the time I let him cry and cry in his crib and he dropped his favorite plane and couldn't reach it. This must have been one of those times I was trying to ahem, "transition" him to his crib. So wanting to test if this was really a memory or just my dramatic child's imagination, I asked him to describe the plane. He looked at me like I was a moron and told me that it was the blue one with the green propeller and red bolt. Well duh
Yes dear, I do remember that one. We still have it, and he still plays with it.
Today he took his memory to a whole new level of detail. Recently his daddy ordered him a Sopwith Camel airplane, as he is back to World War I right now. When it came, I looked at John and reminded him that I still had PTSD from the last Sopwith Camel that he gave him for his 3rd birthday- and that this was the exact same one. Why do you ask would I have PTSD over a toy plane? All I can say is this- it was BAD. The plane, you see, is diecast metal, but it has many fragile wires and plastic pieces, that make it not suitable for a small child to play with. Unfortunately, our son does not have the typical interests of a small child, ie, there are no "toy" Sopwith Camels out there. That plane broke for the first time about 5 minutes after daddy left for work. I superglued it while Jack was at preschool, but it broke no fewer than 5 more times that day. Every single instance was of course accompanied by a massive meltdown- the day was absolutely tortuous, and after a certain point, there's only so much that superglue can do, you know?
Well, this morning, after 3 days, the first major piece broke off of his new Sopwith Camel. At least now he has the words to say, "glue it mommy" instead of just screaming, but it was still a borderline meltdown. On the way home from camp today, Jack asked me if I remembered his "bee birthday". He was referring to the fact that I made bumblebee and beehive cookies for his school friends on his 3rd birthday (this was his second area of interest to planes at that time). I said yes, why? He came back with "remember how I had that other Sopwith Camel and every single piece broke off and you called it crap? I was really sad. But now I have a new one, and this one belonged to Mr. Yimsiri Watana (only John will get that one)". I guess I shouldnt' be so surprised that he remembered this, as it surely caused him a lot of stress, but still....he was only three, and so many other things happened around then, including an awesome airplane birthday party. I did so many things to distract him and I thought I succeeded in helping him forget about this "incident". But here we are, 3 and a half years later and he brought it up without me saying a word. I think this is pretty remarkable. Kids really are little sponges. Also, it's a good reminder- watch what you say and do people- seriously, I said crap when he was three and he brought it up today- I am soooo screwed.
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