Bedtime Chat

The other night, Ethan fell asleep for the night in the car, so Caleb and I enjoyed a one-on-one bedtime routine. Caleb requested a book about Jesus, so I picked one off the shelf called Jesus Blesses the Little Children. I'm not sure exactly why his interest was so piqued, but he was hanging on every word I read. After a few pages, he interrupted me with a frustrated,

"Why can't I sit on Jesus's lap and hug him like those boys and girls (pointing at the picture)? Why he not ever, ever come down and see me like that?"

I told him that Jesus is in heaven, building a beautiful house and park for Caleb and all of the other people who love Jesus, and that, when the right time comes, Jesus will come down from heaven and take us to see the amazing things he has prepared. Caleb asked a few more questions, like how old we would be when he came to get us, and what if somebody died before Jesus came back. So I had a great little theological discussion about the incarnation of Christ, the resurrection, and heaven with my just-turned four-year-old.

And, the next morning, he woke up all excited because he had had a dream that he was flying. It was so real to him that he begged me to help him go back to sleep so he could fly again. He's been talking about that flying dream every since. It has been his go-to conversation topic for the last couple of days, especially with anyone who hasn't heard about it yet:

"I had a dream I was flying. I didn't have any wings, but I just flapped my arms and flew around in circles. And Jackson and Addison and William were there watching me but they couldn't fly. I told them to flap their arms like this, but it didn't work. But I was flying around and around and around!"