One evening about 3 years ago we were sitting at the kitchen table enjoying time with our daughter who had just turned 2 years old. There was a lot of laughing and being silly and our charismatic toddler was loving it! She started talking early and by this point was getting fairly good at putting words together to get her point across. We were quite proud of her vocabulary, but we were floored by what she expressed to us that night.
In the midst of all the giggling, she very matter of factly said, "Grandpa likes to laugh and play too!" Both of her grandfathers had passed away before she was born. We always talk about my Dad, so I wouldn't be so shocked if she had stopped there because she could've just been repeating something she heard us say. I didn't want to overreact, because I didn't want her to embellish her story based on my reaction. So I calmly said, "Oh really? What does he look like?" She had seen pictures of him, so I expected her to describe a picture she'd seen. She said, "I don't know, I can't really see him, he's always kind of gray. But mommy he plays with me and he loves me very much! He's a very nice man!" I asked her where she had played with him. She said, "My room, but he lives far, far away" as she's dramatically gesturing in an upward motion toward the ceiling (or sky possibly). At this point she was done talking about it and went to the other room to play. Although we felt like she could communicate well for her age, we were surprised at the level in which she spoke about this.
My husband and I started to speculate; first, whether or not it was genuine and second, which one of our fathers could've been stopping by for a play date with his granddaughter. Either way, we were amused at the possibility and felt comfort in her recollection.
After her bath that night, she and I were sitting on the bed brushing her hair. She swiftly turned toward me with a very serious look on her face. In a firm but gentle way, she grabbed my chin and turned my head in order to make me look directly at her. It was clear she wanted to make sure she had my attention. She began to speak with very clear pronunciation beyond her 2 years and said, "DON'T worry about ME, I worry about YOU." It wasn't meant to be a warning or anything urgent. It was more like the way a parent would give advice to their child. Naturally, I questioned her about what she meant by that statement, but she was not interested in my query and had already turned her attention to the toy she had in her hand. I felt like that was my confirmation as to who in fact had been playing with her.
I mentioned in my previous story how much my late father meant to me and how I felt about him never having met his grandchild (ren). Once again, he set aside any doubt I may have had and also reminded me he will always be with me/us!
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