Childhood and Magic

Today was a big day for my girls. They had a special field trip to an indoor rock climbing facility. This morning there were a lot of nerves, a lot of "I better not look down"s and a lot of "what if I fall"s. I sent them off to school and thought about them all day long. When they got home this afternoon I asked Megan how she did. "I made it to the top . . . TWICE!" Yep, she was pretty tickled with herself. And Liz told me how many times she climbed and that she made it to the top half of those times (15 trips to the top I think). I could tell she was tickled with herself, and I was such a pleased Mom that they both conquered fears and tried something new.

I was even more proud of the girls when I saw this picture and realized how big the wall really was. This is Liz climbing.

Michael is loving being a Cub Scout. He walks around the house with his book in his hand A LOT and he is always planning what he is going to do next. We had told him he needed to wait for his eighth birthday to start Wolf requirements. He had three done and signed off before he headed to school that day. He has a great example of scouting enthusiasm from his big brother. Nathan sets high goals for himself, like 10 arrows (which means doing 100 electives) and he met that goal as a Wolf and now he will as a Bear. Saturday I peaked out the window to see them sitting in the front yard, scout books open and enjoying every minute of working together.

Within the last few weeks we have told our two youngest the truth about the tooth fairy (Michael has actually known this one for a while) and about Santa Claus. I have always wanted to make sure that they hear it from me, and not kids at school, but have been unsure of when to tell them. Last Christmas I had been feeling like it might be time to tell Mike about the man in the big red suit, but he was so into the magic. He even said he had seen Santa going from the kitchen to the living room the year previous. I didn't have the heart to break it to him. Then a few weeks ago when Megan lost another tooth (she seems to have lost them earlier and more quickly than my other kids) I accidentally threw the tooth away. When she started to cry and ask what the tooth fairy would do, I started making up some magical story about how amazing the tooth fairy is. Brian was listening and said, "Just tell her." So I sat her down on the counter and told her that I was the tooth fairy. She didn't seem to mind when I explained that now when she looses a tooth she can get her quarter right away and she doesn't have to wait until bed time.

That night we talked to Mike about Santa Claus. Brian said it would probably soften the blow to do it at a time other than Christmas. We asked him to think about what we had told Megan (he had been listening) and if he could think of anyone else who brings things in the night. When he said Santa, Brian asked him what he thought. He got a big smile and pointed at me and Brian. He is a smart kid, and he even said, "I must have seen daddy before." No heart break. phew . . .

I was walking Megan to school yesterday and out of the blue she said, "Is Santa real?" I asked her why she was asking and why she thought he might not be real. She said, "you and dad get me presents for my birthday and wrap them. Maybe you get the Christmas ones and wrap them too." I didn't really answer her question, but we had a nice chat. Today, after telling Brian about it we sat down with Megan. Once again we talked about our tooth fairy talk and then led it to Santa Claus, and like Michael she made the connection on her own. We talked about how fun it is to read fantasies and to talk about things that are pretend, and about how we love having our Grandpas dress up like Santa. She was totally fine with it all. Needless to say these talks were a little less eventful than our first Santa talk. Read about that here

My take away from all of this: the magic of childhood is alive and well in my house. Just because my children know that things are fantasy does not take away from the thrill or joy of participating in them. And sometimes the magic comes from doing something new, something hard, something real.