Kids have weird memories. I always wonder what kinds of stuff they will actually recall from their childhood, and what will be lost to them. For instance, both of my children were born in the same house in Baltimore, and Ruby can still describe it pretty well. Edward only lived there for 6 months, so he has no idea, but just yesterday he described my Mother-in-law’s old apartment in great detail, and she moved from there last year, so who knows? But aside from the distant past, even recent details can be iffy. This is an actual conversation I had with my six-year-old daughter two days ago in the car:
Ruby: “I think they will make a Cars 3.”
Me: “Hmmm. Maybe. Did you know they are making a sequel to Finding Nemo?”
Ruby: *squeals of glee*
Me: “And there is another Monsters movie coming out this year, and we can go see it!”
Ruby: “Monsters?“
Me: “Yes. Monsters, Inc.“
Ruby: “What’s it going to be about?”
Me: “It’s called Monsters University, and it’s going to be about Mike and Sully going to college to learn about scaring before they get their jobs on the scare floor.”
Ruby: “What jobs on the scare floor?”
Me: “You know, the scare floor. At Monsters, Incorporated. They worked there to scare kids, because screams give them energy.”
Ruby: “Daddy, I don’t think that happened.”
Me: “Wait, what? That was like the whole movie. They went to work, and went through doors into kids’ rooms to scare them, remember?”
Ruby: “No.”
Me: “You don’t remember all of those doors? And they rode around going through all kids of different doors, because Randall, that monster that was kind of like a lizard, was chasing them?”
Ruby: “No, I don’t remember that part.”
Me: “That was your favorite movie! We watched it four million times! We watched it recently! You don’t remember all those doors?!”
Ruby: “Why were the monsters going through doors?”
Me: “To try to get the kid back! Remember, one little girl named Boo came through the door, and the other monsters thought she was poisonous, but she really wasn’t, so they were trying to put her back?!”
Ruby: “Wait, why do monsters think she is poisonous? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Me: “BECAUSE THEY…. *pant* *pant* *pant* Ruby. Do you remember anything about the movie at all?”
Ruby: “Yeah, I LOVE that movie.”
Me: “So what do YOU think happened in the movie?”
Ruby: “I just remember there was this snow monster, and he loved making snow cones and sliding down the mountain. That was a good movie.”
So there you have it. Things that I think we should be able to have a conversation about do not ring a bell at all with my daughter. And she’s not the one who likes smashing her head into things. Thank goodness I have photographed or videotaped 70% of their lives. At least I’ll have proof when we get into arguments twenty years from now.