A few weeks ago, Claire was talking about her friend Jad at school.  She told us, “Jad has a wizard in his car!  He really does!  They keep him in a cage!”  Now that seemed odd and a little creepy, but kids this age have a powerful imagination.  I figured either Jad made it up and told Claire, or Claire just made it up herself.  The odd thing was that Claire was so insistent about it, and she referenced Jad’s mom.  “His mom even said they have a wizard in their car.”

So I was at a birthday party for another kid, Lucy, in Claire’s class.  While the kids had their bounce house fun, I chatted with the other parents.  I told Jad’s mom that I heard they have a wizard in their car.  She laughed and said, “Lizard.  Sometimes we keep a lizard in our car when we are watching it for our neighbors.  He does have a little cage.”  We had a good laugh.  She said she remembered when she told the kids about it at school. Claire seemed really surprised and said, “Really?!?!” in an astonished way.

I was telling Kit about this whole story, and the fact that it is a lizard and not a wizard.  Claire was sitting there in the room with us.  When Kit and I chuckled about it, Claire looked a little embarrassed and said quietly, “It’s not funny”, then turned her attention to a toy.  I actually kind of hated to squash this little spec of mystery and surprise in Claire’s world.