Pulling Back the Magic...
The last few nights I've tucked Theo into bed he's excitedly told me "Daddy wait! Close your eyes!" and then he gets out of bed, walks over to the light switch for his room and, with a piece of wooden train track, reaches up and flicks the light off. The magic of course is that I know he can't reach the light by himself, so I am of course "shocked and amazed" that he can turn off the light by himself, without telling me how. Last night he said to me "When we get back from the holiday I'll tell you how I turn the light off by myself". Anyway I told him I'd love to understand and then kissed him goodnight, closed his door and went to walk off when Beth (who I'd already put to bed) called out "Daddy come here!"
I went in and Beth was super eager to explain to me "I know how Theo is turning off his light, he's just reaching up with a" and I stopped her there and explained to her that I already knew how he was doing it, but I pretended to him that I didn't because he was so happy to play the game and to "trick" me with his ability to do something I didn't understand. And that's when, as Sarah and I discussed a bit later on, some of the "magic" of being a child disappeared for Beth I think! She understood what I was telling her, that I knew what he was doing and how he was doing it, but I think she was also a bit amazed that I was essentially lying to him by pretending to be in awe when actually, I knew the trick. We discussed it a bit more and she agreed that she wouldn't tell Theo I knew, so as to keep the game and fun alive for Theo. I hope she doesn't tell, but she's always BURSTING to tell a secret, so she'll probably tell him tonight and then burst into tears.
Anyway the train track trick is a very cute/clever one and makes Theo so happy he's pulled the wool over us. And soon he's going to be tall enough to turn it off without a train track required anyway, he's only ~1cm away from being able to reach.
Tim