Joshua has an imagination - a BIG imagination. He loves to pretend that he is riding his "motorcycle" when he is really riding his tricycle. He loves to pretend he is talking on the phone, when he is really holding a banana to his ear, saying "helwo." He also loves to pretend he is a dead bug on the floor, by lying on his back and flailing his arms and legs in the air (like a bug, I guess).
Well, yesterday, Joshua decided to pretend he was a dead bug again. So, Dave said, "oh, Joshua, you're a dead bug? Well, you know what we do with dead bugs, don't you? We flush them down the potty? Come here, I guess we need to flush you down the potty." Dave started to pick Joshua up to "pretend" to carry him to the potty, and Joshua, thinking Dave was serious, had a look of stark terror cross his face. He didn't know Dave was being silly, and instead thought for sure his daddy was going to flush him.
When Dave saw Joshua's face, he quickly reassured Joshua that he wasn't going to be flushed down the potty because he was loved too much. He also told him that we don't really flush people down the potty.
While Dave and I got a little chuckle out of this, it also made me realize that kids don't understand what tricking them really is, and in fact could be considered lying. I guess we'll just have to watch what we say more closely to our kids from now on, because I surely don't want them thinking we might "flush them down the potty." :)
