Jaws...part 2

When you are three and half years old there are boundaries in your life that your parents set to try to keep you safe and to raise you to be a respectful, polite child. However one thing that parents cannot set any boundaries on is imagination. For my son, his imagination seems to get even bigger when he is asked to explain why he did something. Usually that something that he has to explain is something naughty. As any of my loyal blog followers know, my precious little Alexander found his inner "Jaws" a few weeks ago and bit his sister. After I dealt with disciplining him for that incident I had hoped that my little shark was a one trick pony and would not reappear. I was sorely mistaken. He has made a few special appearances since...biting his sister again (apparently the second time he wasn't biting, he was "tasting" sissy), biting mommy, and biting random toys. the latest sighting of Jaws Brody was at Nana's house this week...

Xander had been having an excellent week behaving splendidly during the mornings he had spent with Nana. He had amazing listening ears, a cooperative little spirit, a playful imagination, and wonderful attention span during school time. However, the last day of the work week when I picked him up, Nana met me at the front door and told me Alexander needed to tell me something. I naturally assumed that he had had a potty accident or something of that nature, not a naughty outburst...not my son. But as I met Xander at the top of the stairs, I looked down and was caught off guard when the normally impeccably painted railings at Nana's were VERY scuffed up at the end. (And by scuffed up I mean, the paint was completely ripped off in perfect bite size imprints.) I asked Xander what happened and his honest little self informed me that he bit Nanny's railing and made her sad. I made sure he apologized to his Nana and headed for the door. Only, baby Jaws did not tell me the whole story...

Nana had to fill in a few blanks. Xander had indeed bitten the railing, but he had done it sometime throughout the day when Nana had not been around. When she finally noticed it, it was after my Xander had time to concoct a story. He very plainly explained to Nana when asked what happened, that he was pretending to be a shark and the shark was hungry. It only made perfect sense. Everyone knows that when sharks get hungry, they eat wood railings. But Nana asked Xander where sharks live and if they live in Nanny's entry way? Xander responded in an exasperated little way, (almost as if to say "Ummmm somebody needs to catch up on their shark National Geographics) "Nanny, sharks live in oceans and seas." I think it was then that he realized that he was neither in an ocean nor a sea and Nanny was not into pretending to be hungry sharks that eat railings.

Well, at least he was not pretending to be King Kong on top of the roof at Nana's. Oh dear, I better be careful what I wish for.