Gideon was still playing with age-appropriate trains and toddler toys when we took a walk around the neighborhood and he pointed his “boom stick”–a tiny curved tree limb, barely in the shape of a gun–at objects and made the sound of them exploding as his arm jolted upward from the imaginary recoil. I’m still not sure where he got the idea for that. The most violence he’d seen up to that point on TV was when Thomas the Tank Engine ran through the buffers and oil splattered everywhere as his eyes spun in circles from the surprise. Obviously this was well before his love for Spider-Man and Transformers..
Friday afternoon Neighbor Boy called and said he had a surprise for Gideon. We stopped at Neighbor Boy’s grandparents’ house on our walk and Gideon was gifted with a very nice, homemade pretend gun carved from wood, made by Neighbor’s Boy’s grandpa. It even came with a holster. Then Neighbor Boy and Gideon fought off the bad guys in the neighborhood with their matching guns to protect Mia’s heart. Very cute.
Saturday morning Neighbor Boy ran to our house and brought another very nice homemade pretend gun carved from wood, this time for Mia. So Sunday afternoon I asked them to make thank you cards for Neighbor Boy’s Grandpa. They made the sweetest cards, told him he’s “awesome,” with people at the bottom of the page, smiling as they point guns at each other.
I don’t think they understand guns yet.