The Elephant in the Room

“Mommy! There’s an elephant in my room!”

As I trudged down to Quinn’s bedroom the other morning, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I was sure that I hadn’t heard him correctly. I mean, the kid is 2 1/2 and is not the most eloquent of speakers. Add to that that he makes things up all the time, and I didn’t give it much thought.

When I got to his room I was not at all shocked to find just a little boy in his bed and no elephant. However, he was adamant that there HAD been one in there.

(The following is the best Toddler-to-English translation I could muster)

“Mommy, there was an elephant in here and he walked on my floor and roared at me and I was scared. And he lay down over there and was really, really loud. And I was in my bed and he walked in my room.”

After a few more go-rounds of this “Yes, there was an elephant in my room,” “No there wasn’t, Quinn,” I finally realized why I couldn’t get through to him: he had dreamed it! It explained why something so improbable seemed real to him and why he wouldn’t listen to reason. To him, it had really happened.

I remember when Ben was little and had been afraid to walk in the living room “because last night the crabs on the floor were biting my feet.” Like Quinn, he wouldn’t believe us when we explained to him that it had just been a dream.

It got me thinking about the imagination that these little kids possess. Whether it’s circus animals or fire engines in the front yard (heard that one last night), you almost hate to tell them that this off-the-wall story makes no sense. Is it that bad to let them continue to spin such a wild tale?

Quinn’s latest focus (aside from elephants roaming our second floor) is monsters. Before running into a room by himself, he’ll turn to us and say “There are no monsters in my house,” as if he’s trying to convince himself – not us – of this fact. While I’m not sure of where the fixation on monsters came from, I’m wondering if he had a dream about them too. I usually just remind him that monsters are pretend and that Elmo is a monster and he’s a good guy so really, why be afraid?

It has yet to quell the fear, but it does the trick in the short term and gives him the guts to enter a dark room.

And so, the next time I hear about the elephant, I think I’ll just play along. His story is so colorful (and long) that maybe I should just zip it and let him tell me, no matter how silly it is.

And besides, I’ve been around the block enough times to know that winning an argument with a child in the throes of the Terrible Twos is about as likely as… well, having an elephant in your room.