Background: Steve works at Verizon (at least for another month till they close) and has for the past 2 Christmases. At Christmas, someone (the same guy both times thankfully as Ethan has a mind like a steal trap), dresses as Santa and the kids can go see him in the Verizon lobby. The kids bring a book to give Santa so he can give it to kids who don't have books, then they sit on Santa's lap like any other Santa at Christmas. Ethan did this both years.
Wednesday evening I picked up the boys at daycare and then went to Walmart for a few things. On the list was gatorade for Steve cause he's trying to cut out pop & caffeine and wanted something besides water. The boys and I then went to Steve's work to give him the gatorade because his dinner break was coinciding with our schedule. We saw Steve for a few minutes, delivered his drink, he gave the boys kisses all around and headed back into work.
As we started driving away, Ethan asked, "Where's Daddy going?" To which I replied, "he's going to work."
E: "Why?"
Me: "Because that's what they pay him for."
E: "Where's Santa Claus?" [he asks this pretty often when leaving Steve's work]
Me: "Honey Santa Claus isn't still at Daddy's work. He's back at the North Pole now. He went home and is only here at Christmas time."
E: ....silence - 1/2 mile later pointing out the passenger side window "I thought you were going to turn there."
Me, curiously: "No, honey. We're going home."
E: "But isn't that the North Pole? I thought I was gonna go see Santa Claus."
Me, chuckling: "No, honey. The North Pole is far away from here and it's way too cold."
E: "But Santa Claus is there."
Me: "Yes, Santa is there but he lives there. It's just too cold for us. Santa has a special kind of magic that makes him live there and I don't think you could see him right now anyway - he's hidden by all the snow. He only comes here at Christmas time just like the Easter Bunny only comes at Easter. It's almost Easter now and the Easter Bunny is probably watching. He gets together with Santa and they compare notes to make sure you are good all year long."
E: silence....thinking about all this (keep in mind we're driving through this but I can see him in my kid-view mirror and his has his finger tapping his chin thinking as I talk)
Me: "What do you think the Easter Bunny will bring when he comes? Remeber he brought you Baby Pete [our rabbit] last year. Have you been good this year? What do you think he might bring you?"
E: "Yeah, I'm good. I think he's going to bring me my puppy dog."
Me: "No, I don't think he's going to bring you a puppy dog. He asked Mama and I told him you couldn't have one."
E: "But I dust want a little one. I dust want a little puppy dog."
Me: "Well honey, when we have our own house, you can get a puppy. But the people who own the house we live in don't want us to have a dog so you just can't have one right now but when we get a house, you can have one."
E: "Yeah, I dust want a little one. Owix wants a big one."
Me: "You just want a little puppy dog but Alex wants a big dog?"
E: "Yeah, he wants a big one like Chavy. Chavy is a good dog."
Me: "Like Chavy, huh? Whose dog is Chavy, do you remember?"
E: "Ummmm..."
Me: "He's Evan's dog. Remember cousin Evan?"
E: "Yeah, at Aunt Katie's house. And Webekah's dog, too. He's a good dog, too."
Me: "Rebekah's dog is Oz."
E: "No, I'm talking bout WeBEKah's dog. The big dog. WEBEKAH's dog."
Me: "Yes, Rebekah has a big dog - his name is Oz. Evan's dog is Chavy at Aunt Katie's house."
E: "No. Member, Mama? Webekah's dog. It's big. It tried to push me over. Member when we dropped you off and me and Daddy and Owix went to the Quarium and we saw the tractors and stuff. When we came back, Webekah's house. I'm talking bout her dog. THAT big dog."
Me: "Yes, when you dropped me off to see Rebekah and Amelia [8 months ago when she was born - I'm telling you, steal trap] and you and Daddy went to the Bass Pro shop to play and look at the fish in the big fish tank - it's not the Aquarium but it has a big tank like that. Then you came back to pick me up and you came in and saw Rebekah's dog. That dog is Oz."
E: "Yeah. I'm talking bout that dog. Well Owix wants a big dog like that. But I dust want a little one."
Me: "Ok honey but we can't get one right now. We have to wait till we have our own house and then you can get a little dog."
E: "Ok. But the Easter Bunny dust won't bring one right now."
OK so I got him off the Santa Claus/North Pole deal but maybe I should have picked some other topic. The kid remembers like every detail of an event that was quite literally 8 months ago but didn't believe me that the dog's name was Oz until I confirmed that dog from that event is the one I meant. Sheesh. But he's right - he has been good so I guess we'll see in about a month or so what the Easter Bunny will really bring him - cause it won't be a dog.
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