How a 3-year-old ends up with a bucket list

I blame it on “Mommy Brain” and the fact that I’m almost 40, but I can’t remember anything these days. When I have an idea or a thought I’ll need to remember at a later time, I need to immediately write it down; otherwise, it falls into an abyss, never to be recollected. So today, as I was sitting with Lucia while she ate her lunch, I was coming up with ideas for future blog posts. It was quite the solo brainstorming session; I came up with three or four doozies. I knew I’d have to write them down right that second or I’d never be able to remember them again. The closest items in my reach, with which to record written words, were a spiral notebook with not one clean sheet of paper, and a brown crayon. Better than nothing, right? I grabbed the notebook and the crayon and scribbled down my ideas. Lucia was totally befuddled: why was I using HER paper and HER crayon?! I’m one of those parents that are very honest with my child. She asks me a question and I give her a straight answer (with discretion in certain situations, of course). So I explained why I needed to quickly write down some stuff and then she wanted to know what I’d written. Going with that whole honesty thing again, I began with item #1: Italy bucket list.

I got no further.

“Mommy, what’s a bucket list?” I replied, “It’s a list of things people want to do, or places they want to go, before they die.” I know she’s my kid and all, but she amazes me sometimes. She completely understood the concept of a bucket list and said, “Mommy, I’m going to write my bucket list.” I’m also one of those parents that don’t stifle their child’s creativity, especially when it comes to writing, so I said, “Ok. I’ll help you.”

The following is Lucia’s Bucket List, including my very own interpretations (she is only 3, after all):

1. Go to a park. I wrote it down for her but said, “Lucia, you’ve been to several parks before. Do you mean a park like Central Park in New York, or Yellowstone National Park?” Her response, “Yes, if there are slides and a sandbox and see-saws.” Ok, so it’s a slow start.
2. Go see flowers. Of course, I heard “Go to Holland for the Tulip Festival.”
3. Go on a carousel. Again, I had to tell her, “Lucia, you’ve been on a carousel before.” She replied, “I know but I want to go again.” Well, I guess I’ll have to take her back to Florence so she can ride the huge, gorgeous carousel in Piazza della Repubblica.
4. Go to the movie theater. She’s already been to the theater for a vaudeville show. Perhaps she wants to see “Skyfall”, every traveler’s dream movie?
5. Go to Australia to see koalas.This is an improvement from “that place far away to see those little animals that climb trees very well.” She said that a couple of weeks ago and, strangely, I knew exactly what she meant.

   

6. Go on a rocket ship to outer space and visit all the planets. She dreams big.
7. Go to the South Pole. She’s not going without me!