My nephew, Aiden, is 5 (and a half!) He gave me plenty of reason to smile this weekend.
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“Aiden, what do you want to be when you grow up?” “A chicken!” Aiden exclaimed with all the enthusiasm of someone who had just won the lottery. My brother and I quickly looked over at one another. “A chicken?” Aiden’s dad asked. “Why do you want to grow up to be a chicken?” “NO!” Aiden shouted. “I want to be a policeman!”
…my brother Allen and I later realized that Aiden thought we had asked him 'what kind of pet do you want when you grow up?' Aiden is allergic to pet dander and their cat died recently, so now they are trying to identify a pet that doesn’t have dander. So Aiden is a little pre-occupied with animals these days. Later that afternoon, Aiden came running into the house from outside, cupping something in his hands. “Daddy? Can we have this as a pet?” Aiden opened his hands to reveal a millipede.
Aiden likes to go to www.nick.com and play Square Pants Spongebob. In the game, you can turn the characters into giant puffer fish (the spiky kind) to protect them from the bad guys. My bother asked Aiden not too long ago, “what are those things coming out of their bodies – spikes?” Aiden responded adamantly, “No, daddy. They’re porkers”.
(It turns out that Aiden believes that the quills on porcupines are also called porkers; hence the name, porcupine.)
Konnie, my sister-in-law, recently got off the phone with her cousin, who is caring for Konnie’s Aunt. The cousin has to get up during the night to check on her mother and was complaining about being up all day for work, then up all night to care for her mom.
Aiden overheard the conversation and when his mom hung up, Aiden ran over to Konnie and said, “Do you know what cousin Jane is? She's eternal!” Konnie, caught off-guard, asked Aiden to explain what he meant by eternal. “She’s up all night mommy. She’s eternal!” Of course, he meant that she was nocturnal.
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“Aunt Sandy?” “Hmmmm?” I responded, turning away from the car window to look over at my nephew.
“Yes, Aiden?”
“Aunt Sandy, would you like to go to the Pancake House after church and have Mickey Mouse pancakes?” I thought carefully. I had been to the Pancake House once before and remembered how much Aiden loved the Mickey Mouse pancakes.
“I think, Aiden,” I responded slowly and carefully, “that I would like to have raw fish heads for breakfast after church.” I smiled a big smile at Aiden and licked my lips. Aiden looked worried. “Really, Aunt Sandy? But I never had raw fish heads before.” “Never!” I exclaimed. “Why this would make it even more special! Besides, I’ve been looking forward to raw fish heads for breakfast all week!”
Aiden turned and looked out the car window for a moment, then turned back to face me.
“Aunt Sandy?”
“Yes, Aiden?”
“What if we had Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast and raw fish heads for dinner?”
“Why, Aiden! What a marvelous idea! In fact, I think I would like my raw fish heads with mustard, which would be perfect for dinner!” Aiden looked over at me and smiled uneasily.
“Aunt Sandy?”
Yes, Aiden?”
“You see...the thing is...my stomach doesn’t really like raw fish heads with mustard.”
“It doesn’t?”
“No, Aunt Sandy. My stomach likes Mickey Mouse Pancakes.”
I could see the concern in Aiden’s eyes, wanting to make sure I had what I needed, but not wanting raw fish heads with mustard. “Aiden. I appreciate you wanting to make Aunt Sandy happy. But I want your stomach to be happy. So let’s have Mickey Mouse pancakes after church!” Aiden smiled the biggest smile he could make, picked up his Star Wars book and asked, “Aunt Sandy, read more about the Jedi’s.”
