Sam's Imaginarium

We frequently wonder at the things Sam tells us. How much is he actually seeing versus how much is he making up completely? When he's telling us about things that aren't there, does he realize that they aren't really there? And most of all, where does he come up with some the stuff he says??

Julie was telling me about a conversation that she and Sam had the other day about wolves, I think. (He's very ... I don't know if fond is the word I'm looking for ... of seeing wolves about the house, along with Swiper the Fox from Dora the Explorer.) Julie was telling him how to handle that particular wolf situation and Sam looked at her, in deadly earnest, and said, "Mama, there are no wolves here. I was just 'tendin'."

Another bedtime story: one of the things we do at Sam's bedtime is remove all the scary guys (or maybe that should be Scary Guys) from his room. It started with monsters, and has evolved considerably since then. When Julie collects all the scaries, she throws them out the window. Sam always asks who went the fastest. One day, she said, "The teeny tiny little scary guys."

Sam (wide-eyed): "But, mama! They have no feet!"

... Just who are these guys? What is this kid seeing?