thankful thursday

today i'm thankful for imagination. i loved my imagination (except for those times when it got the better of me) while i was growing up. and i can see that samantha's huge imagination is a lot like mine was.

we have this game at bedtime called "hey honey" that she and i play every now and then. it all started a few years ago when she ran upstairs and hid in bed. and when i went into her room to tell her goodnight she said from under the covers in her best 'daddy' voice "hey, honey!!" so i said, "hi, whatcha doin'?" to which she replied, "watchin' ball..." so we carried on a conversation as if she were ben, while she kept herself hidden under the covers.

after puting the kids to bed last night, i am thankful for imagination. because without it, i could not have great conversations like this:


sam (in her big bad daddy voice under the covers for the entire time) - "hey honey!"

me - "oh, hey babe. i didn't know you were up here. what are you doing in samantha's bed?"

sam - "just waiting to tell ryan goodnight."

me - "oh, well ryan's down here in his crib. so why don't you come down and tell him goodnight." (samantha has a loft bed)

sam - "i can't."

me - "why not?"

sam - "because i'm a ghost."

me - "haha. no you're not because ghosts aren't real."

sam - "YES THEY ARE!!!!!"

me - "well are ghosts ticklish?"

sam - "no."

i climbed up on the chair, put my hand under the covers and started tickling her and she started wiggling and laughing.

me - "sounds like you're laughing which means you're ticklish. so that means you aren't a ghost."

sam - "i know. i'm not a ghost. i'm an ALIEN."

me - "oh. well if you were an alien you wouldn't kiss ryan goodnight. you'd just take him back to your planet."

sam - "well why didn't you say so?!"

me - "because if you're an alien you should already KNOW that!"

silence

me - "hey, why don't you come and tell ryan goodnight then we can go downstairs and have a snack."

sam - "that's okay, i have snacks up here... like ten hundred snacks."

me - "oh, well can i have one?"

her hand emerges from underneath the covers and puts an imaginary snack in my hand.

me - "that's not a snack. that was nothing!"

sam - "it is too a snack. it's a ghost snack."

me - "well humans can't eat ghost snacks."

sam - "yes they can. it's a human ghost snack. you just have to imagination it."

me - "oh, well i could also just go downstairs and get a real snack..."

sam - "fine. go downstairs!"

me - "ok..."

as i started walking out of her room she jumped up out of the covers and started laughing. i acted all surprised that it was her and not ben, and she was quite proud of being able to conceal her identity for that long.

oh my sweet silly sugar, i'm so thankful you think like mommy and that i can imagination things with you!