Dear Mai,
Kids are weird. I'm trying to understand what and how makes you tick these days and sometimes I'm at a loss. You seem to have some irrational fears of natural disasters and I don't know why. This started awhile back when you came home from school terrified of Earthquakes. At your old school you had an Earthquake prep drill and it freaked you out. You found out that California has earthquakes and you vowed not to step foot on that forbidden state ever again. Once you found out that we could potentially have one in Seattle you wanted to move to Ohio. I didn't have the heart to tell you about Tornadoes. Since then you've learned of Volcanoes and hot lava. Scares the bejesus out of you. We had to talk you off the ledge and convince you that Mt. Rainier wasn't going to erupt next Tuesday. Then you wanted to move to Florida. Again, I didn't have the heart to tell you about Hurricanes.
When you were in Florida last month with Mommy and Grandma apparently you almost were locked in a park because they were closing and announcing it over the loud speaker. Now every time you hear a loud speaker you freak out and think wherever we are is about to close and we'll be stuck in there forever or something.
So today, we had to take Mama to a Dr. appointment so we were bumming around Capital Hill. After a good breakfast
We found some cherry blossoms. We were pretty excited to see some, finally a sign of spring.
They were by this church with this tall steeple. Freaked you out. You said it was too tall and you didn't want to be near it because you were afraid it was going to just fall over.
I don't know where all this is coming from. You haven't had a real reason to fear anything as far as I know. I like to think I'm pretty laid back about things and don't really live in fear. Your mother either. Who knows but we'll work on conquering those fears together my little girl. I imagine it's all part of a very active, developing, young mind and that you have. Despite all the toys you have your favorite things to play are all imagination / make believe games. One of your favorites (not particularly mine) is playing Mommy and baby. You're the mommy and I'm the baby. I'm restricted to two "words" when we play this game: "Wah, wah" If I say anything else I'm met with a strict reminder: "Babies don't talk." and I'm left with only one response. "Wah, wah." I particularly not fond of this game in public places. It's difficult giving people a "hard" look and saying "wah wah."
Today I introduced you to a new imagination game at breakfast: the people watching game. We had breakfast at Glo's in Captial Hill. It's a great little diner with a lot of windows and at a major intersection in that neighborhood. As we were finishing up I commented on how active the city was and asked you to think about all the people buzzing around. What is their world like? Are they going to work? School? Visit friends and family? Shopping? You LOVED that game and we made all those people come to life in our imagination.
That's what it's about my girl. People. Life. Movement. Don't fear the world. Embrace it. Embrace the uncertainty, the danger and risk. Learn about it. Travel. Explore and meet new people. Always stop to smell the flowers. I don't know much but I can tell you one thing, if you experience the world you're probably less likely to have regrets once our time comes around. </soapbox>
I love you my sweet, little. complex dictator
Daddy