What did he say?

My little Nicholas is such a hoot. He is forever telling "stories" about things and is so convincing that many times he can trick people into believing they are true. For instance, several weeks ago he came home from school and insisted that his teacher's mom was in the hospital. Nicholas told me the same thing several times after that. One day he said, "Guess what? Mrs.___'s mom got home from the hospital." When I saw his teacher one day at lunch, I asked her about her mother. She was clueless- her mom had not been in the hospital (but her dad had surgery before Christmas and she was a few minutes late one day).

This is just many of a thousand examples. He has done this since he was very little, making up stories about driving in a big red truck when he was in high school. Pete and I have often wondered what Nicholas' active imagination will come up with next. We have also thought about what kind of crazy things he may be saying to his teachers.

Today was priceless, though. I think this one tops it off. We were in a spring conference before school with his teacher. We know her very well because Katie and Andrew had her for first grade, too. The teacher turned to Pete and asked with sincere curiosity if he and Nicholas had killed a bear last weekend. We laughed so hard. Nicholas also said they killed a squirrel and a fish, too...right here in town. We elaborated on his creative imagination for a while and then discussed the wonderful progress he has made. Before I left, I wrote a note to my youngest to tell him how proud I was of him and left it on his desk.

Then, while waiting to pick the kids up, the teacher came out to tell me that a boy in their class had put his hands around Nicholas' neck in a choke-hold during recess. She said Nicholas wasn't hurt and the boy got in trouble, but she wanted me to know that if Nicholas got in the car and told me about it, he was not telling one of his stories. Does this sound a little like the boy who cried wolf?

And you know what else? Nicholas is my sweet, sentimental child. He had folded up the note I left for him and carried it around in his pocket all day He wanted me to put it under his pillow tonight. Sleep tight, my baby.