Elephants never forget and neither does my intense kid

Early on we discovered the remarkable memory of the Dervish.

Just after moving into our new home there were boxes belonging everywhere ... well, everywhere.  One such box was in the room that was assigned to Pie and Dervish however it didn't contain things that belonged to them but Dervish was rifling through the box and came across one of Dads die cast cars from his collection.

I explained it wasn't a toy and it was Dads and then I put it in another box in the middle of some towels and things, put the box back together and restacked the boxes and pretty much put it out of my head.

The next morning I went in to the boy's room and found the Dervish playing with the die cast car I'd gone to so much trouble to hide.  The boxes were moved around but only the box that held the car was opened and other than an obvious path through the towels, there was no disturbance to the box.  Perhaps Dervish has a future as a shell game professional?  If nothing else, perhaps a talent for future talent shows?

This remarkable memory has it's advantages I'm sure.  Perhaps it will help him in school?  It doesn't however help him to remember what he did with his glasses nor does it help his parents with any kind of slack.

Early in the week I mentioned, almost in passing, that I would be buying new shoes on the weekend for both boys.

An hour ago, Dervish burst in the door from school and announced "It's a PA day tomorrow!"  ... "uh huh" I respond... "well, that means it's the weekend tomorrow".  "I guess" I respond (thinking not for me, I have to work) "Well.." he asks "Are you getting my new shoes tomorrow?"

Not earth shattering but that's the kind of thing that goes on all the time with an intense child.  You say sometime around the middle of January that in the summer we'll go to the beach.  The first warm day comes along and he asks if it's summer.... pick your answer carefully, he's going somewhere with this you think.  "Well, it's a summer like day but it's not really summer yet".  He goes away... but after the next strech of nice warm days and you admit to him that yes, it's pretty much summer and the first thing out of his mouth is "you said when it was summer we'd go to the beach - let's go now".

It's always been my practice not to lie to my children, not to promise anything that you aren't sure you can follow through on, that kind of thing but as we all know, the best intentions sometimes foul up and when they do.... man!..... the intense child will make you pay! 

Look on the bright side.  A good memory is a positive thing.  Keep telling yourself that over and over!

Parenting the Intense Child