Dear Noah

Noah today you came out first thing in the morning after getting up and said:
" I want a magic wand". "I want a magic wand so I can make Dick and Jane come to my house and play". See...you have been reading TONS of Dick and Jane stories lately...and have really been getting into them. This was so cute and sweet but also kind of sad cause you were so upset and crying.

"I want a magic wand....I want to make Dick and Jane REAL so they can come into my house and play".

I proceeded to tell you then how there were probably no real magic wands and that if you found one it would most likely be a PRETEND wand. I told you how you could PRETEND to make Dick and Jane come to life and be a part of their lives and you a part of theirs every time you READ a story about them.

You still stood there crying. Then said: " I want to skidoo"...."I want to skidoo like Steve does on Blues Clues". "I want to skidoo into the Dick and Jane book and play with them". All the while crying and crying.

I asked you if you dreamed about Dick and Jane. You told me no. I held you on the sofa and explained how you could pretend to skidoo...that READING was a way to skidoo INTO a book and become a PART OF IT and pretend YOU WERE the characters in the book...that that was what Steve was really doing on Blues Clues as he was PRETENDING and that he could not really jump into a book but he was THINKING about how it would be by reading it. It was like BEING in the book and being a part of it. I told you to read more stories and pretend to skidoo like Steve does....you cried out" but I don't know how"...."I don't know how to skidoo like Steve does". SO I went through the entire process and told you how to read and then THINK about what it would be like to be DICK in the Dick and Jane stories and then to imagine YOU were DICK. You calmed down more.

You then said "Mommy I want more friends" (crying more again now) "I want more friends like Dick and Jane to come and play with me". Kind of sad to mommy to hear you say that as you are an only child. I told you we take you places and you could pretend with others you were Dick. I told you that your cousin Audrey could be Jane. You asked me who could be Sally. I said maybe one of Jane's dolls could be Jane. You were finally calm....and seemed to understand.

Daddy got up. You came out and told me I could be JANE...you were Dick and when daddy walked out here you told him "you can be Sally".

So here we sit.....during a major snowstorm on a Sunday morning all pretending to be Dick, Jane and Sally and playing. You are happy again. I am thankful.

I also told you to learn to write your letters better so you could write sentences and then make up your own stories like Dick and Jane. You smiled.

So another hurdle out of the way. Now for breakfast.

I love you to the moon and back again and again and again....forever and ever and ever!

Mommy