Interesting times

So I get to school to drop off Tom. I have with me a note that Nik and I have written the night before, asking for a chat with Dawn, Tom’s teacher, to talk through something Tom has told us about him being upset the day before.

I’m met with a bright inquiry from Dawn –

‘So I hear you’ve got a new cat at home!’

Bemused silence. Nik’s fur allergy ensures such things are highly unlikely. Tom’s description of our new cat had been particularly vivid – to the extent that the tears he’d reported to us had actually been due to his upset at our new kitten being ‘too little to be left at home alone’.

The kitten in question – a slightly ragged towelling toy dating back to Tom’s birth – had become very popular for a day or two (acquiring the name ‘Israel’ along the way) and had clearly morphed into something much more meaningful when I wasn’t looking…

I take it such things are par for the course? Are we edging into imaginary friend territory here?

We’re all OK, by the way. Been a little quiet, I know, but we haven’t dropped off the earth yet… which is because of our stickiness since you ask. This was a recent ‘why?’ question from Tom. He seems to have grasped the earth is round somewhere along the line and shows a somewhat obsessive interest in maps and globes, and our place on them. Out of the blue a few weeks ago he asked why we didn’t fall off the earth.

Now I don’t want to be told this is perfectly normal – I want to remain stunningly impressed by the deduction that there might be an issue with the whole round earth/staying on it thing.

Around the same time as this question was posed the nights started drawing in to before Tom’s bedtime and he developed a dislike of being outside after dark. As we gently explored the reasons for this fear, we got the answer that he was frightened of rockets falling on him. How has he put that thought together?

Interesting times at our place.