Thoughts of a 3 year old

Tessa has started using the term "bad guys" with her definition hinging on what she sees in Wizard of Oz and Sleeping Beauty. She knows that good and bad guys fight and she knows that someone (usually the bad guy) gets killed as a result of the fight. She knows that "kill" applies to mosquitoes and she also knows that people can be killed, a subject I felt compelled to introduce to her after she snuck off away from Mommy on a second nerve wracking occasion. She crossed a main street in our neighborhood by herself before I could catch up to her, and walked alone the equivalent of about two blocks. I explained during her time out (after getting no reaction to other attempts to explain the severity of her action) that cars can't see her because she is little and if a car hit her she would get squished like a bug and be killed and sleep and not wake up. Her lip trembled as she repeated back to me what she understood and I feared I'd gone too far, but I truly didn't know how else to get such a serious point across. She seems to understand these concepts as well as a three year old can.

Tonight as Tessa was going to bed she got her nightly phone call to Daddy. His radio was pretty active in the background and she asked what it was. He explained that he was pretty busy helping his friends (code for anybody in a uniform) look for the bad guys. She repeated back to him "bad guys?" and then her chin began to quiver and she asked "are the bad guys going to kill Daddy and then he won't..." and her voice trailed off as she thought of how to say what she was thinking. Daddy reassured her that he was safe and I told her that Daddy has LOTS of friends that are all going to keep each other safe. She seemed to be calm after that and moved on to saying goodnight and talking about dreams. It made my throat catch to see her get so sad and worry about Daddy. It reminded me that even though he has a blast doing his job it is dangerous. In the three years he's been in there have been two "friends" murdered, and others who died on duty in accidents. I have trouble imagining the wives of those men trying to explain to their young children why their daddy's won't be coming home. It's good to be reminded that every day is precious.

While she is still learning complex ideas, she showed me the other night that concrete ideas are no problem at all. As usual she was up and down, wandering around the house and continually moving during dinnertime. After many reprimands and warnings I told her "stay in your seat until you finish your dinner". Without missing a beat she picked up her chair, holding it tightly to her bottom, and walked away from the table. Yes, I laughed.