Reaching for the Moon

Justin is fascinated by the moon. This fascination has been going on for months. He's always searching for it and often finding it way before we do. For his birthday last spring, we bought him "Papa, Please Get The Moon for Me" by Eric Carle. This gift started a tradition for us... every birthday we plan to buy a book for each child as their main birthday present. The book will reflect something significant in their year, some emerging aspect of their personality, etc. And then we'll write them a letter in the front of the book. We love the push to think thoughtfully about our child and the vision of their reading all the ways we saw how they are special throughout the years. What a collection they will have... both of great books and of our love letters. We hope it's a simple keepsake they'll treasure for years to come.

Tonight, we couldn't find the moon as we played outside after dinner. As I was getting Justin ready for bed, we found it... a small, low, sparkly crescent we viewed out his window. I picked him up and we paused cheek to cheek, staring at our end-of-the-day prize.

Justin: "I want to touch it."
me: "Let's reach for it!" (quoting Eric Carle's book, all to familiar to him by now.)
Justin (while reaching): "I can't get it!"
me: "Do you know how you can get to it? You can ride in a special airplane called a space shuttle. It flies way up high in the sky. Then you can get to it. Would you like to do that some day Justin?"
Justin: "mmm (yes)... and then I want to come back down."

Oh, good. I'm so glad!