The only place to start my story is at the beginning... sit back, get comfortable, here it is.....
At the age of 3 & 1/2, my son & I were shopping at BigLots, checking out coloring books. It was a Tuesday. He found one on transportation. For 0.60, it was a great deal.... esp. since it had a picture of the MarsRover (at that time, Daddy had told him all about Mars and the moon and rockets and the MarsRover).
That night, while I was cooking dinner, my son was at the table coloring the MarsRover. Once Daddy arrived home, my son pulled him over to the coloring book to show him the MarsRover. At that moment, my son noticed the picture on the opposite page: a sunken boat with the word Titanic on the side.
"Daddy... what that boat's name?" he asked, pointing to the word Titanic.
My husband told him. And then my son said, "Why it at the bottom of the ocean?" To which daddy simply replied, "Well, the Titanic was a very huge boat. It hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the ocean."
Nothing more was said and the evening proceeded as usual.
My husband and I didn't think anything about it. We figured: simple question, simple answer, end of story.
5am Wednesday arrives. My son (who usually sleeps through the night until at least 6am and NEVER climbs into our bed without asking (begging, pleading, whining) first) is IN our bed, ON top of us, shaking us and saying, "I NEED TO KNOW MORE!!!" in a very very urgent tone. "More what?" I mutter. "MORE TITANIC!" he commands.
My husband repeats his brief answer from the night before: "The Titanic was a big boat. It hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the ocean." and adds "It happened a long time ago." Our son nestles between us and goes back to sleep.
Nothing more was said that day about the Titanic.
5 am Thursday arrives. Same thing -- son in our bed, on us, demanding MORE information about the Titanic. My husband repeats information from the morning before and adds another piece. The day proceeds without my son asking about the Titanic again.
5 am Friday arrives. Yep...same boy, same time, same invasion of bed/sleep, same urgent demand. Luckily, this morning I can reply, "Let us sleep a bit more and I will take you to the library after breakfast. We can get a book on the Titanic and read all about it." Fridays were my day off from work.
We checked 2-3 books out from the library -- my son could NOT wait to get home. He had the books propped open in his lap, scanning picture after picture the whole ride home. Insisted I read the books immediately upon arriving home. We get a few pages into the first book and my son shouts, "This is my boat! That is my day!" He points to the date on the page: April 14, 1912.
That is the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. (FYI: Hit the iceberg late on the 14th, sunk on the 15th) April 14 is also my son's birthday. I had not read that information yet... I didn't know my son could recognize his birthmonth in print or the number 14.
Now, my son never offered any facts or info about the Titanic prior to me reading him books on the incident.
However, his reactions to the event have made many a person/friend ask, "Do you think he was on the Titanic in a past life?"
Reactions:
He is 5 & 1/2 now: has claimed since listening to that first Titanic book that his birthday is April 14, 1912. He is quite insistent on April 14, 1912 being HIS birthday.
At the age of 3, he'd flip through a Titanic book, reciting the events in order with the only date being April 14, 1912; though all event would be recited/told in chronological order. At the end of each 'retelling', he would always ask, "But what happened to Captain Smith?? Is he still at the bottom of the ocean?"
At the age of 3, he would often stare and search the pictures of the ocean floor around the Titanic when it was found by the submersible in the 80's (I think that when). You could see him use his fingers to scan the ocean floor. When you'd ask him, "What'cha doing?" He'd reply, "Looking for Captain Smith."
At the age of 3 and 4, he would say, "Captain Smith needs to come home." I would say, "Yes, he needs to GO home" (stressing the word GO, thinking he needed correcting on the verb -- GO made more sense to me, for I'd only say COME if I meant he should be heading toward my home. KWIM?)
He still will occasionally ask, "What happened to Captain Smith? Why did no one find him? Why didn't the Carpathia bring him to NewYork?"
He would often draw pictures of Mommy, Daddy, him on "Titanic lifeboat" and say, "See... we are safe."
Last summer, we checked out the touring Titanic exhibit. There was an iceberg (small replica... but real huge iceberg-shaped ice). Upon touching it, my son said, "Mama... touch it... it's so cold. That's how cold it was. How cold it was for Captain Smith." This summer we checked out the exhibit again... he was still fascinated with the iceberg but really didn't have much to say throughout the whole exhibit. Very quiet. He had begged to see the exhibit again.
The summer he was 4 (so 6-8 months after buying the coloring book), I shared the above story with my friend. And it was she who led me to Carol Bowen's book. After reading the entire book, I waited for the topic to come again. When it did, I tried asking very non-chalantly, "Where did you sleep on the Titanic?" To which my son replied, "No where.. I didn't go on the Titanic." I then thought about his fascination with Captain Smith's body never being recovered. Maybe he never did ride the Titanic. Maybe he lost a loved one on the Titanic.
That's basically my story. Not sure it belongs here... but, even if it doesn't, I am sure it is an interesting story to read.
Lynda
At the age of 3 & 1/2, my son & I were shopping at BigLots, checking out coloring books. It was a Tuesday. He found one on transportation. For 0.60, it was a great deal.... esp. since it had a picture of the MarsRover (at that time, Daddy had told him all about Mars and the moon and rockets and the MarsRover).
That night, while I was cooking dinner, my son was at the table coloring the MarsRover. Once Daddy arrived home, my son pulled him over to the coloring book to show him the MarsRover. At that moment, my son noticed the picture on the opposite page: a sunken boat with the word Titanic on the side.
"Daddy... what that boat's name?" he asked, pointing to the word Titanic.
My husband told him. And then my son said, "Why it at the bottom of the ocean?" To which daddy simply replied, "Well, the Titanic was a very huge boat. It hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the ocean."
Nothing more was said and the evening proceeded as usual.
My husband and I didn't think anything about it. We figured: simple question, simple answer, end of story.
5am Wednesday arrives. My son (who usually sleeps through the night until at least 6am and NEVER climbs into our bed without asking (begging, pleading, whining) first) is IN our bed, ON top of us, shaking us and saying, "I NEED TO KNOW MORE!!!" in a very very urgent tone. "More what?" I mutter. "MORE TITANIC!" he commands.
My husband repeats his brief answer from the night before: "The Titanic was a big boat. It hit an iceberg and sank to the bottom of the ocean." and adds "It happened a long time ago." Our son nestles between us and goes back to sleep.
Nothing more was said that day about the Titanic.
5 am Thursday arrives. Same thing -- son in our bed, on us, demanding MORE information about the Titanic. My husband repeats information from the morning before and adds another piece. The day proceeds without my son asking about the Titanic again.
5 am Friday arrives. Yep...same boy, same time, same invasion of bed/sleep, same urgent demand. Luckily, this morning I can reply, "Let us sleep a bit more and I will take you to the library after breakfast. We can get a book on the Titanic and read all about it." Fridays were my day off from work.
We checked 2-3 books out from the library -- my son could NOT wait to get home. He had the books propped open in his lap, scanning picture after picture the whole ride home. Insisted I read the books immediately upon arriving home. We get a few pages into the first book and my son shouts, "This is my boat! That is my day!" He points to the date on the page: April 14, 1912.
That is the day the Titanic hit the iceberg. (FYI: Hit the iceberg late on the 14th, sunk on the 15th) April 14 is also my son's birthday. I had not read that information yet... I didn't know my son could recognize his birthmonth in print or the number 14.
Now, my son never offered any facts or info about the Titanic prior to me reading him books on the incident.
However, his reactions to the event have made many a person/friend ask, "Do you think he was on the Titanic in a past life?"
Reactions:
He is 5 & 1/2 now: has claimed since listening to that first Titanic book that his birthday is April 14, 1912. He is quite insistent on April 14, 1912 being HIS birthday.
At the age of 3, he'd flip through a Titanic book, reciting the events in order with the only date being April 14, 1912; though all event would be recited/told in chronological order. At the end of each 'retelling', he would always ask, "But what happened to Captain Smith?? Is he still at the bottom of the ocean?"
At the age of 3, he would often stare and search the pictures of the ocean floor around the Titanic when it was found by the submersible in the 80's (I think that when). You could see him use his fingers to scan the ocean floor. When you'd ask him, "What'cha doing?" He'd reply, "Looking for Captain Smith."
At the age of 3 and 4, he would say, "Captain Smith needs to come home." I would say, "Yes, he needs to GO home" (stressing the word GO, thinking he needed correcting on the verb -- GO made more sense to me, for I'd only say COME if I meant he should be heading toward my home. KWIM?)
He still will occasionally ask, "What happened to Captain Smith? Why did no one find him? Why didn't the Carpathia bring him to NewYork?"
He would often draw pictures of Mommy, Daddy, him on "Titanic lifeboat" and say, "See... we are safe."
Last summer, we checked out the touring Titanic exhibit. There was an iceberg (small replica... but real huge iceberg-shaped ice). Upon touching it, my son said, "Mama... touch it... it's so cold. That's how cold it was. How cold it was for Captain Smith." This summer we checked out the exhibit again... he was still fascinated with the iceberg but really didn't have much to say throughout the whole exhibit. Very quiet. He had begged to see the exhibit again.
The summer he was 4 (so 6-8 months after buying the coloring book), I shared the above story with my friend. And it was she who led me to Carol Bowen's book. After reading the entire book, I waited for the topic to come again. When it did, I tried asking very non-chalantly, "Where did you sleep on the Titanic?" To which my son replied, "No where.. I didn't go on the Titanic." I then thought about his fascination with Captain Smith's body never being recovered. Maybe he never did ride the Titanic. Maybe he lost a loved one on the Titanic.
That's basically my story. Not sure it belongs here... but, even if it doesn't, I am sure it is an interesting story to read.
Lynda
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