The Same

Apparently that Sea Creature that Sammy loved so much is coming out in a new movie.

I saw an ad on television the other night.

I watched hours and hours of SpongeBob in the hospital.
Wait, that's not totally true. I listened to hours and hours. I tried to do something else (read a book, write a blog post, take a nap, anything!) while SpongeBob was on.
And wow, he was on a lot. Sam had the schedule memorized.

There wasn't that much SpongeBob at home. It was more of a hospital thing.

So the ad came on, and I asked Michael, "do you think Sammy would still be into SpongeBob? Or maybe he would be over it." We paused for a few minutes...immersed in our own wondering.

He would be a little older than 9 now. He'd probably be telling me, "I'm almost 10, Mom."

What kids like, what they're into, what they find interesting and thought-provoking and entertaining...these things change so quickly, I've noticed. Sure, my kids settle into interests, but I know so well that what they like in one season may change in the next. They grow, they mature, they change, they're exposed to different and new ideas, they meet a new friend who draws them in a totally different direction. And some things stay the same. Some ideas stick with a kid from the beginning, their personalities continue to ebb and flow around those sticky ideas like water around a rock in a stream.

But Sam....is just frozen. Stuck. The same.
All the things he liked and found interesting and entertaining....those are the things we know about him. We will never know NEW things about him. He will never have a NEW idea or a NEW thought or a NEW interest.

We talk about it. "Sam would have liked this," we say. "Sam would think that was cool." Sometimes we extrapolate. "Well, Sammy liked frogs, so he would probably like this green sweatshirt that you're wearing today." But it's a story we tell.

Because we don't know.
We'll never know.

I wish we knew.

About a year ago, I wrote a similar post.
I keep coming back to this idea, I guess.

Sam is probably watching SpongeBob in ALL of these pictures. Hospital parenting 101: TV distracts, and therefore is a great way to get a reluctant eater to consume calories....I have countless pictures of Sam eating while watching television.

THIS little miss is shaving her head again. All new and increased gifts will be matched, so find a friend that you've never asked...and ask that person to donate. Give other parents the gift of watching SpongeBob for years to come.

Yael and her favorite person