The Day A Bear Ate My Bones

I get the following text from my husband (and father of our children) on a casual Thursday mid-morning.  I envision my husband pulling a too small chair up next to SH2 who is coloring.  For the sake expediency we will call him Big Human 1 (BH1) and she looks something like this.  Her eyes may or may not be open while coloring.

BH1: May I join you?

SH2: Sure 

BH1: Do you come here often?

SH2: Yes, with my sister.  But not my mommy.

BH1: Why not your mom?

SH2: She's dead

BH1: That is so sad.  What happened?

SH2: She went out to milk the cow, but it wasn't a cow.  It was a bear and it ate her bones and her body

BH1: I am so sorry to hear that

SH2: It's okay I'm drawing her a picture.  She's getting fixed up.

Admittedly, I was shocked to learn that a bear ate my bones and I was dead.  I think every mom's first reaction is one of self deprecation, "Oh great now my 3 year old is killing me in her kooky daydreams."  Until I realized exactly where this crazy kid picked up these notions.  I have been reading some Laura Ingalls Wilder books to the kids at night mixed in the Magic Tree House series when they grow weary of Ma and Pa Ingalls.  Two weeks ago this is the page we read.  

A case of mistaken identity
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrations by Garth Williams

We had read about Ma going out to milk the cow in the dark and giving the cow Sukey a little smack on the booty to get her to move away from the gate only to realize it was a bear.  In SH2's version, however, I did not meet with as quite a fortunate fate as the book characters who all survived including the cow tucked safely in the barn.  I am still not sure why she killed me off in her version but regardless this is living proof that she is likely an auditory learner and can remember things with amazingly good accuracy like her BH1.  Well that and you should never smack a bear on the ass or it will eat your bones.    

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