A Request

Jonas at 16 months, laughing hysterically as the rollercoaster cars at Disney's California Adventure passed by at such high-speed that the wind blew through his hair.

I sat beside my baby boy on the plush leather couch after dinner Tuesday night.  He fidgeted, leaning against the couch, rocking awkwardly from bare foot to bare foot as he half-watched some preschool program On Demand.

“Whattcha doin,’ baby boy?” I asked, leaning in to his field of vision.

“I wan go ta Diswneywahnd.”

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I probe, hardly believing my ears.

Disneyland?  Really?  My boy is no stranger to asking to go places.  He often asks to go to different, somewhat obscure places.  He chains and scripts through a list of places, each time requesting in a somewhat affirmative-like, somewhat question-like manner:

“I go Daddy’s werk?” “I go Applebee’s?” “I go Home De-poe?”….

But this, this was different.  It wasn’t part of a script.  There was no expectant, sly smile attached to the request that would suggest that he was trying to get me to play into a repetitive verbal game (which is his very favorite thing to do).  Even his tone was different, almost reflective in nature…purposeful, the epitome of a perfectly communicated desire.  Entirely declarative.  A spontaneous comment.

Amazing.

Just seconds after Jonas declared his desire to go to the “happiest place on Earth,” my husband walked into the room.

“Tell Daddy what you want,” I urged.

Jonas looked up at him with those enormous, chocolate-brown eyes and repeated the request, exhibiting perfect eye-contact, “I wan go ta Diswneywahnd.”

I could see from the look on my husband’s face that Jonas may have possibly closed the deal on a trip to Disneyland, given that we are heading to Southern California in just a few short days, and that this request was nothing less than HUGE.

It may sound absurd to many to even entertain granting such an extravagant wish to a 4-year-old asking to go to Disneyland, because let’s be honest, what child doesn’t want to go to Disneyland, but I will repeat…this request is nothing less than HUGE.

Huge because of how clearly it was communicated.  Huge because it wasn’t fed to him.  Huge because it gives a glimpse into Jonas’ thought processes.  Huge because of everything that it is.  Huge because of how absolutely, perfectly, utterly typical such a request is.

Later, after some probing, I learned from my older children and husband that there had been no prior conversation about Disneyland that they know of that possibly preempted this connection. HUGE.

He’s been sleeping with the collection of Disney stuffies that we’ve collected here and there over the years on our trips to Disneyland over the past few days (back when it was easy because we lived an hour and a half away).  It’s strange, because he’s never seemed interested in all things Disney before now.  Those stuffies have been sitting at the foot of his bed for years…untouched.  Not now.

He’s still talking about it.  He’s still asking.

And we’re still thinking about it, but he may have closed the salesman on a trip to Disneyland, and that’s HUGE.

Meeting Mickey! Look how little my babies were.

Micah (6), Jonas (2), Winnie the Pooh. Jonas LOVES the characters!

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