What do I remember when they were 4-5?

I was asked this today my a parent who lost her 4 year old to cancer a month before his 5th birthday.


The Boy:

Sneaking toys to preschool inside his winter boots and transferring them to his indoor shoes.
Refusing to skate and lying at center ice
Splitting open his eyebrow and refusing to leave school to have it fixed
Make believe monsters in his closet – they were his friends
Hiding eggs in his room so they would hatch into dinosaurs
Meeting Buzz Lightyear at Disney
Blowing up the Death Star at Disney
Star Wars
Being in love with Batgirl – hubba hubba
Lego, lego, lego
Grocery shopping in July while he is wearing his Batman costume
Reading The Cat in the Hat every night for six months
Wanting to grow up to be a T Rex
Sticking a piece of foam up his nose so far that we had to have a doctor remove it.
Sleeping in a race car bed
Sleeping on his pile of stuffed toys in the corner instead of his race car bed.

Trying to fit your grandmother’s fake teeth into your own mouth
Stealing your grandmothers fake teeth to get money for Lego
Trying to pull out your own teeth to get money for Lego


The Girl:

Making her Barbies fight over who was prettier
Princess dresses
Doing my nails and painting them up to my first knuckle, just before I had to go answer a knock at the door
Freaking out because she didn’t get to go to school on her 4th birthday
Her first day of school
Refusing to play hockey because she wanted to dance on the ice
Having coaches pick her out of the skating lesson because they wanted to train her for figure skating
Going downtown for Tea with a neighbor
Telling me I would have to wear a dress if I wanted to go to Tea with her
Wanting us to wear matching dresses
Having breakfast with Cinderella at her castle
Wanting to buy real pearls – not fake ones
Getting her hair braided in Jamaica
Expecting the Captain of the cruise ship to fall in love with her braided hair.
The fanciest dress on the Cruise
Easy bake oven