The Whale in Our Garage

Several weeks ago when Steve was away on a 7-day business trip; I found out that we had a whale in our garage.

Seriously, I thought I was hearing things. I was trying to be patient on our first full "Steve-less" day...asking nicely over and over for her to put her sneakers on, only to be told that her Sketchers weren't sneakers. "Mama, they aren't sneakers. They are Sketchers". (However, her Vans are sneakers, not Vans. Go fig) Then asking nicely for her to go out to the car as I set the house alarm. Then came an odd request: "Mama - don't turn the light on. I need to see the whale".

Excuse me? I asked her to repeat it and she did: "Mama - don't turn the garage light on and don't open the garage door. Just the car door. I need to see the whale." So, I honored her request. I remotely open her van door while setting the alarm (like usual) and then while going into the garage I didn't turn on any lights or open the door. As soon as I walked around the front of the car (using the lights inside the van) she exclaimed "Mama! This is my whale!" and pointed to the floor.

The lights inside the van help to cast a shadow on the floor of our garage. It does look like a whale...in a 4-yr-old's imagination sort-of way...but a whale none the less. This continued for the entire week. Every time we left the house she requested that I not turn on the lights. Finally, on Friday, she said "Mama, I'm going to see Amy". From that moment on our whale has been affectionately called "Amy". When Steve arrived home from his trip she was so excited to tell him about Amy.

We're going on four weeks with Amy. Instead of asking her to go out to the car when we leave, I ask her to go out and see Amy. How much longer will this last? Not sure. But I'm taking advantage of every moment :)