A typical Saturday morning starts with me getting a gentle nudge awake. It is Swab coming in to wake me up and ask if it is time for our “date day.” She typically wakes up early so we quietly get dressed and ready to go out without waking everyone else.
We go to Starbucks and while I get my coffee, she gets a snack and a milk. We usually stay anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours, it just depends. We have become regulars at both of the local Starbucks so they ask about her, and know what she usually gets. She is well behaved and loves to go and throw away any trash so she can be independent. We have been doing this since she was two and it started with wanting to go to pick out a table while I put fixin’s in my coffee. This has grown and at 4 years old now, she likes to go up to the counter and order on her own, then use my Starbucks card to pay. I usually go sit down and let her go through her routine if she wants to.
The list of things we have done at Starbucks is a bit surprising, but we always have fun.
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Sat and talked
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Read a book
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Watched NetFlix on the phone
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Played educational games with ABCMouse
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Painted her fingernails
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Played with “My Little Pony’s”
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Sculpted with playdoh
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Pretended the curbs were balance beams
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Pushed in all the chairs
and I am sure there are more that I forgot.
This day we happened to bring in a little tub of playdoh and were making snakes, balls, cubes, and mermaids. All was good and it was now time to head on down to the boat to get some work done. She often goes with me on date day and we spend the day together.
As we started to pull out of Starbucks she began to tell me about the dream she had the night before. As soon as she started, I had to break out my cell phone and hold it off to the side while I drove. I did my best to keep it aimed on her the whole time through her story. I could tell by the way she was starting her story that she was very animated so I got a great little set of photos and video of this.“Want to know what I dreamed of last night?” she asked. “Of course, tell me all about it.” was all I had to say to get this top spinning.
Well, I was being chased by this giant spider and it was “this big” as she outstretched her arms. I inquired to keep the story going. She informed me that this giant spider was chasing her and she kept running and running. Sometimes she would fall down but got back up just before the giant spider caught her.
I asked her how she could get away from that giant spider. She went on to explain that while the spider was as big as those outstretched arms, that he had little legs. Again using her hands to demonstrate she showed me how long his legs were. She then took an odd turn in the story to say that the spider stopped chasing her and started to chase another spider.
She had to “save his heart.” This required questions and I asked her why she had to save his heart. She so plainly and incredulously informed me that she had to save his heart because his one heart was… eating… his… other… heart. The voice raised as she dramatically paused with each word. I was suppressing my laughter at this point but encouraged her to continue by asking what happened next. She told me that she saved the one spiders heart and he got away but then the big spider ate her. I was shocked and inquired, “What, he ate you?” She raised her hand up over her head and in a circular motion showed me that he didn’t really eat her whole body. “He didn’t eat my whole body, just this half of my body.” as she continued the circular and downward motion of her hand.
I asked her what is was like to be only a half a person after the spider ate half of her. Again with disbelief in my stupid question, her response was, “I am not a half a person, now I am half a person and half a mermaid.” I love the imagination. I love that she is comfortable sharing her crazy with me. I love this kiddo like there is no tomorrow. She entertains me and I suspect will keep me young, or age me quicker, I am not sure which.