This morning was the last morning of our summer holiday. Tomorrow it’s the weekend and so that doesn’t count. School starts on Monday.

Yes, you read that correctly. School starts on Monday!

As nice as it is to have another two weeks’ school holiday with Little Chap, this year the (brutal!) cost of an extra two weeks’ off, (apart from the extra childcare that is), is diving back in to a full five-day week! Not for us the two, three or four-day soft start to which we’ve all become accustomed. Nope! A full five days of “Is it the weekend tomorrow, Mummy?” *exits stage left and screaming*

Totally unnecessary moaning aside, I thought I would mention two of the cute things Little Chap dropped at my feet today. First there was the early morning thing. The padding of his little feet as he came in to my room to check he hadn’t missed the last three days of his holidays. Reassured that he had not, he proceeded to climb in to bed for a lovely cuddle.

When he’d had his fill of that, he scrambled over me to make the most of Mayfair Dad’s (empty) side of the bed behind me – MD’s an early riser, me not so much – only to make a most important enquiry. (You know, how they do – in that most earnest, matter of fact tone of voice that five year-olds have. The one that says they’re just SO tired of having to ask so many questions to understand something which they’re quite sure must be really simple, ‘cos all us cretinous grown-ups seem to understand it but can’t explain it them for toffee!)

So he wanted to know…

“Mummy, why was love invented? Was it because otherwise we’d all just be girls and boys and never get married…?”

How can you not start the day with a smile on your face, hearing that?

There’s a small pang as I notice it means a slight loss of his innocence – I see him making his own correct connections based on the happy evidence he witnesses every day. Thankfully, none of his friends come from broken homes, so there are few confusing exceptions to his norm for him to question or us to explain.

I wonder with a little trepidation where this very logical train of thought might take him next…?

Now fast forward to bedtime and Mayfair Dad and I are saying goodnight. Well, trying to get to that point at any rate – we first have to suggest he puts his light sabre toy away safely for the night. This is where I really wish I’d put the whole thing on video as suddenly Little Chap is having this great conversation with Mayfair Dad (who humours him completely and somehow with a straight face!). He was explaining how he needed to put his light sabre in a certain spot near his bed so it would be ready for his Jedi training.

This was delightful but not so unusual. Little Chap is still in the imaginary play stage and Star Wars has been a firm favourite for some time now. This however, almost bordered on the imaginary friend, as he went on to explain to his father in all earnestness, how he’s visited in his bedroom every morning by Obi Wan Kenobi, who proceeds to train him in his Jedi “moves”.

Mayfair Dad delightfully began asking him questions:

Mayfair Dad: “How did Obi Wan find his way in here then Little Chap?”

Little Chap: “Well Daddy, he used the force of course. But now I know he’s coming I leave my window open a little crack, ‘cos he can make himself very tiny with the Force so he can fly in and out.”

Mayfair Dad: “And what if Obi Wan is busy?”

Little Chap: “Oh then he sends another Padawan instead, one who’s learned more than me and if I do really well, sometimes he sends Yoda as a special reward.”

Well, now we know.

May the Force be with you!