Today is November 1st, the day after Halloween. I had planned to write here sometime this week, expecting to tell the tales of Lilly's costume or costumes, which you can see by clicking here. But something happened today that has changed this journal entry. Everything was as expected today. I came home from work, made Lilly dinner, talked to her about her day at school and then went upstairs for bath time.
The routine in the tub is always the same. I wash her hair. We scrub the days worth of markers, crayons and food from her fingers and face and then when she is done washing up, she plays for a little. She does not "relax" in the tub. It is always a free for all with varying degrees of play. Sometimes she plays with the toys, sometimes she plays with the empty bottles and sometimes she plays by cleaning the tub walls over and over again. She is always loud, jabbering either to herself, to me, or to the toys in the tub. But not today.
Before I continue, I should let you know that I will share with you the costume story that has been occupying the mind of this little 5 year old for the better part of a month. But that will be for another time.
So after finishing the mandatory bathing ritual, I expected the same playful energy that I have witnessed night in and night out for years. But instead, Lilly just kind of looked at me. For me, it seemed like a long minute, but it couldn't have been more than seconds. She looked up at me and said, "Daddy, I had a really beautiful dream last night".
I don't know what age kids start to recall having dreams, but this was the first time I have ever heard her even mention the word dream. In thinking about it now, I don't know that I would have guessed that Lilly even understood what a dream was. Lilly often asks what things mean, so if dreams had come up in conversation, I am pretty sure she would have asked me.
"You did?", I asked, surprised that I was even having this conversation with her. "What was it about"? Part of me expected her to say she didn't know, while the other part of me was curiously anticipating her reply.
"I was at the beach" she began, telling me her story with great detail. I will try not to leave anything out while I recount her recollection to you. "I was collecting sea shells with Mommy and Sister." Another story for another time, but Lilly has an imaginary sister. Sometimes it is a drawing of a child, sometimes it is a stuffed animal or doll, recently it has been a small scarecrow decoration we bought.
"Mommy was on one side, Sister was on the other, and I was in the middle. We were collecting seashells. Some of them were big, some were small and some were mediate". That is not a typo, she stumbled through the word medium. "Mommy was giving her shells to me. I was putting them in my sand bucket. I want a bathing suit like Mommy's. It was long and came down to here (she pointed at her knees). It was pink with blue flowers on it. Sister can't have it, Mommy said it was for me. We walked on the beach all the way down to the water. I didn't like the starfish. Mommy said it was ok. She called me a Cute-EE, Pa-Toot-EE."
I smiled at her and asked if there was any more. "No. That was it." And with that, she popped up, knocked over the basket of toys and play time resumed. Just as it does every other time. But for me, November 1, 2010 won't be remembered for the crazy costume stories of the day after halloween, but instead will forever be the day of Lilly's first Dream.