Boo-boos

Lately, Maria has been obsessed with boo-boos. It's not like she's had that many in her life or even any very recently. She's just started thinking a lot about them one day and hasn't stopped...for two weeks. Every time she bumps into something or falls or slightly pinches a finger, she comes running to me screaming, "Uh, no! Boo-boo! I NEED BAN-AID!"

I can't figure it out. Even when she has boo-boos we don't really put band-aids on them because they stick too much and are hard to get off or they stick too little and get lost in the bed or in the living room or on the bottom of my sock. I think once we went to the doctor and she got a Dora band-aid after a shot. But that was months ago. Funny what kids remember.

Co-incident with this "ban-aid" obsession has been her desire to "Go docker." So maybe she is really remembering that Dora Band-aid of months ago. She goes through a whole routine. "I go docker, now!" "Docker check mouth, ahhh!" "Docker check nose!" "I yike docker n nurse."

What amazes me about all this is the glimpse it gives me into how her brain works, how little things we say can trigger memories or form connections for her. For example, Jim and I were talking at the dinner table and he remarked that, that morning when the alarm went off he spent some time staring at the position of my arm... Apparently, I was sleeping with it above my head and jammed between the slats of the headboard. He was worried that I'd injured myself. This prompted Maria to start looking at my arm and saying, "mommy, boo-boo, arm! Oh, no! Mommy need ban-aid." It was even funnier the next morning when she climbed into bed next to me and looking at my arm (again in a weird position) said, "oh, no! Mommy hurt self, need ban-aid."

All this makes me realize just how much kids pick up from every day occurrences - places they go, things they hear and things they see. It kind of scares me to think how easily she is influenced by the world around her, especially since I'm the one who is primarily responsible for the content and scope of her world at this time. I can only hope and pray that I'm doing a good enough job that what she learns from her 'world' ultimately leads her to the "Doctor of Souls", Our Heavenly Father.