better just the way he is

so there's this story i made up for khary about 2 yrs ago featuring his stuffed dog slash best friend, rocky. in it, the family is out hiking and khary finds a super-special stick that he says is perfect for rocky...turns out the stick is magic & rocky comes to life and can fly. they go on adventures, khary riding on his back, to dozer's favorite dog park, to the zoo, deanna rose, pretty much anywhere we feel like rambling about in the dark, since it's a bedtime, imagine-yourself-to-sleep kind of story.

we hadn't done the story in a long time, so the other night, i'm putting him to bed and he's a little restless, so i start in on the story, he comes up with even better adventures at nearly-4 than he ever did before. at the end, he says we went *back* to the woods to hike, and he brought the magical stick and threw it away. a bear ate it up. and he got a regular stick to bring home to rocky where he is. "one that isn't a magic flying stick."

me: did you have fun on your flying adventures with rocky, khary?
khary: yes, it was fun. but i like him normal.
me: so he's better just the way he is?
khary: exactly, mommy.

...awww, dangit, kid. you impress me every day.

___________________

the other day we were getting ready to go somewhere, all four of us. i was still eating supper at the table & khalil was sitting on daddy's lap, also at the table. khary fell to pieces after being told that he could not, in fact, go upstairs to watch his show (noggin) before we left. he started crying and went over to daddy to lean his face against daddy's shoulder. meanwhile, khalil is very concerned that his big brother is so upset. and in slow motion, reaches up to khary's face and *ever-so-gently* wipes his big bro's tears away.

:::melt:::

(gawd, i'm misty-eyed again just thinking about it!)