The Princess and the Robot

I have a passion for photography and I love photos and have tons on display throughout the house.  I have shown photos to the kids of family and friends since they were babies.  It's a great way to teach them who people are and I use photos especially to help them learn and stay connected with out of town family members.  So now it seems the kids love to look at photos and talk about them.  Dylan likes to point out his family in pictures and tell something about them.  He might point out his cousin Alec and say "That's Alec.  Alec has lots and lots of trains."  He will look at a picture of Grandma and Grandad and say "That's Grandad and Grandma.  They live in DE which is a long way from here."  He also likes to tell me about the pictures of him and say "This is a picture of me when I was a little baby like our baby (Zoe)."  It's always fun and interesting to hear his thoughts on the pictures.  We can spend quite a while looking at pictures and talking about them together. 

Today Dylan was looking at the pictures on the wall upstairs and he loves to look at our wedding pictures.  He always says "That's Mommy as a princess when she married Daddy."  or "Mommy, this is a picture of you as a princess."  The first time he said it I was shocked because I didn't even know that he knew anything about princesses.  Of course, every time he says it I think it's sweet and it makes me smile.  Today after he said the usual commment he told me and David that "I want to get married too!"  "And Zoe wants to get married and be a princess too!"  David asked Dylan "Who are you going to marry?"  Dylan pondered this question and put his index finger to his mouth and said "Hmm..."  Then after a few seconds he said "I'm not going to marry a princess.  I'm going to marry a robot!"  Dylan said it all so matter of factly and then he was done and ready to go play.  

It's so funny to see his thought processes and to see how fuzzy the lines are for him between fiction and reality.  I love the childhood innocence that he has and want to enjoy these precious moments.  I know all too soon Dylan will be talking to David and I about getting married and their will be some specific girl in mind.  I'm not ready for that!  So for now, I'll play along with the idea that he is going to marry a robot! 

Here are some of Dylan's favorite pictures of the four of us:

This is a picture of "Mommy as a princess when she married Daddy."

These are pictures of Dylan when he was a baby like our baby with Mommy and Daddy.

Left: Dylan isn't quite sure that this was really him as a baby.  I love this picture, but poor kid did have some hair issues for a few months.  Right:  This is our baby with a similar teddy bear.

Dylan says "This is our family with Daddy, Mommy, Dylan, Zoe and Renoir. 

We were on the bench outside in our playground."