The other day, Jaden advised me he has a plan for scaring monsters - his new monster scare tactic is to kick, wink and then roar as loudly as possible. He does this quite often, and I’ve noticed it’s no longer to scare only monsters, but mommies and daddies alike (I wonder if perhaps this is a reflection of his opinion of us?).

Ever since Halloween, and even some time before it (since he heard some stories about monsters from a relative), Jaden has been a little unsure of the existence of monsters - the jury in his little mind is still out on this.   We’ve had to be so careful about telling him stories because in his world, Dracula is real, and so too is Frankenstein, as are ghosts, ghouls and goblins.  Jaden and I have had countless conversations regarding the non-existence of monsters, and though he finds some  temporary solace in my reassurances, I’m not sure he quite believes me.  I surmise the new monster scare tactic means he no longer believes my story that monsters only live in a faraway land that you can reach by finding a magical forest in Transylvania.  Not surprisingly given how magical he seems to think the world is, almost immediately upon hearing that story he let go of his fears of these monsters coming to whisk him away in the night.  Children at this age have such a limited concept of reality - both wonderful and magical, but I’m sure quite scary too.

His imagination not only extends to new ways of fending off monsters and other threats, but he also loves to role play, and each morning, I never quite know if I’m going to be the Tinkerbell to his Peter Pan, the Wendy to his Bob the Builder, or the Emily to his Thomas. I need to keep my wits sharp as I change personalities frequently throughout the day - in one instant I will be Wendy but before I can blink, I’m Emily. Even more confusing (for me, not Jaden), I will suddenly be called Wendy, which means I could be the Wendy to his Bob or the Wendy to his Peter Pan - and I better not make a mistake as to which one I am. Thankfully though I get to be the “cool” sidekick - my poor husband is the Stinky Pete to our Buzz Lightyear (Jaden) and Woody* or the Sebastian to our Ariel and Flounder team.

I will never get over how magical and wonderful the world must be in the eyes of our little nearly four year old - a world where anything is possible, where he can dress up and be whatever he desires to be and where with just a bit of imagination he can be in any world he chooses. It must make this world so much better a place to live, and not half as dull as sometimes we grown-ups believe it to be.

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* As of late however, I no longer am allowed to be Woody, since I’m a girl (At what point do they decide to no longer cross the gender barrier? I don’t think we ever discussed this with him…).