Oh, for the imagination of a child!

Our 4 year old son has a wonderfully creative imagination. He’s the youngest of our three children and has certainly been “babied” by the other two (although there isn’t a great disparity in their ages). I’ve always enjoyed watching Elijah play. As long as he has a G.I. Joe or two, he will keep himself entertained for hours. His vivid imagination keeps going even while he is sleeping. For instance, this morning before I left for work Elijah came into our bedroom. I guess it was 5:30 or so and he wanted to tell us about what happened to him last night. Apparently, some really big flies wearing red t-shirts were flying all around him in his room. He said that he was throwing toys at them to keep them away. The funny part is that this wasn’t a scary dream to him…he was having a great time throwing the toys at the large t-shirt clad dragonflies! He’s often woke up and told us about who he was talking to, or where he went, or what he was playing during the previous night. Sometimes he is insistent on the fact that these things actually happened…like the time that his brother (with whom he shares a room) was trying to “hurt him”. Apparently, Trey had turned into a “mean monster” during the night and tried to hurt Elijah. It was so vivid that Elijah was scared of Trey for a full day….this made Trey pretty sad, but Elijah got over it by the next day!

Our family watched The Bridge to Terabithia a week or two ago. It’s a terrific story that ends up making even the most calloused person cry a bit. Throughout the movie I found myself wondering what must be going on in Elijah’s head when he is at play… I wonder what world he is entering when he is playing quietly by himself. I would love to glimpse inside his mind every now and again. I bet there would be enough to see in there to keep me entertained for hours!