Imagination

A little conversation I had with Emily this evening as it was getting dark...

Emily: It's getting dark, Mommy.
Me: Yep. It's almost night-night time.
Emily: The stars are comin' out. Really big ones.
Me: Yeah, when it gets dark, all the stars come out.
Emily: Yeah. Really big ones. I like 'em.
Me: Do you like to look at the stars?
Emily: Yep. Me and Daddy look at 'em. They really big ones up high in the sky. I reach up high and I catch 'em.
Me: Really? What do you do with them once you catch them?
Emily: I bring 'em inside. And I keep 'em. I get one for Mommy, Daddy, Alex, Mackenzie, Meaghan, Matthew, Mema, Papa...

Then she started singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Emily: They like that. They so happy. But then they miss their Mommy and Daddy, so I hafta send 'em back.

I love talking to her like this. I never ever know what is going to come out of her mouth. She's really taken an interest in stars lately, which I think Jim is enjoying since astronomy really interests him. We were outside when it was dark one night in Maine. Emily looked up in the sky and all of a sudden stopped dead in her tracks. Pointing up to the sky, she said, "Look, Mommy. Stars." And then she whispered, "They're so beautiful."
When Jim heard that he snatched her right up and they went and looked some more, just the two of them. I can see this turning into something really neat for them to share.