Photo-A-Day #1952

This morning (1:00am) Eva woke up and came padding into our room. In the middle of the night I call it padding, during the day she stomps around like an elephant. But at night she almost silently slips into the room. Well, she came into our room and she was scared of a shadow. I’m not sure if she is feeling scared because we will be leaving her for five days. Sure she will be with Auntie Tara, Auntie Shelby, Memere and Grandfather. She’ll even be spending time with Ant Andrea and and Uncle Neil. So she’ll certainly be cared for and entertained. But I think that she’s got some fears in there that came out last night.

Speaking of Questions, Eva and I rode back home after my haircut yesterday and she said something like “Dada, why do you ask so many questions?” I was perplexed because I hardly ever say much or ask questions, Eva is the one who asks all the questions. Each day at dinner she asks me, “What did you do at work today?” I answer. She then asks “What else did you do?” and I tell her something else and she then asks again “What else did you do?” It goes on until I finally say, nothing else sweetie. And she again asks, “And What else?” It reminds me of this scene from Dude Where’s My Car (aff link) minus the @aplusk flipping out and punching.

Well we were driving along and I said to her, “You ask so many questions I’m going to call you Questions, okay Questions?” She goes back and forth with me that she isn’t ‘Questions’. It was a fun little exchange and we had a nice time on our own together, laughing and playing. We had dinner together and then tubby time. All went so smoothly last night and it was wonderful. Then 1:30 rolled around and I think it actually got better.

You might be asking how being woken up by your child at 1:30 am when you go to bed at 11 and toss and turn till 12 and get up at 5:00am to get to the office early. I’m saying I’m one tired monkey. But this was a magical moment for me when I brought Eva back to her room at 1:30 on her third visit to our room. I had Eva get back into bed and asked her what was wrong. She said Shadows. Shadows are a big issue these days, and even though Eva has her very own Princess themed ‘ShadowBlaster‘. Eva pointed to where the shadow was hiding. I pointed it to the spot with the ‘ShadowBlaster’ and blasted it. She calmed down and we settled in to talk.

Eva laid down in her bed and I picked up her Winnie the Pooh and laid down on that. I reassured her that I would stay there till she fell asleep. She then told me that when she closed her eyes that “Pictures were being brought to me!” “Swirls, Swirls were coming to my eyes when I close them”. I thought that she meant swirls of colors however as we talked more I realized that she was talking about the ice cream place called The Spiral Cone and we call it Swirls. She was dreaming about going and having ice cream. We talked more and she closed her eyes again and said that pictures of her princesses were coming to her. Each time she closed her eyes she would tell me something else that she liked.

Eventually she said that she couldn’t get a specific picture. I explained that she was dreaming and she could just enjoy the pictures, they would just come to her as she slept. All the time I was holding her hand and rubbing her fingers gently with my thumb. She then did the same back to me.

I was touched and felt so overwhelmed being part of her discovery of dreams. The way she described it “Pictures coming to me when I close my eyes” is such a great description for a child talking about dreams. We are so lucky that she can articulate her fears and dreams and everything when we take a moment to slow down and listen. I laid there on the floor near tears with my heart so open to loving this child of mine. It was one of those moments of magic that happen among the moments of everyday life. So I laid there on the floor on Winnie the Pooh until she was ready for me to go back to my bed. I’m going to miss her very much for the next few days.