My Kids Have Germs

Do you ever wonder if the things your kids come up with are creative or just plain weird?  I’ve had a few questions like that in my mind throughout Adelade’s almost eight years on the planet.  But, her latest playtime obsession might have all others beat.  A few months ago, we discovered that she had a pet germ.  And, from there, her pet germ family grew and grew.  Pretty soon she convinced Sawyer to have pet germs.  Only weeks later all of her friends at school had pet germs and germ families.

Adelade and Sawyer’s germs go everywhere with them and have weird names like “Deerie,” “Eyeball,” and “Frisco.”  The germs are always doing super fun, exciting, and cool things.  They hold circuses, they get married and have babies, they play sports of all kinds, and they argue with each other.  One day Adelade got in the car after school and told me a long, dramatic story about her friend Lydia taking some germ babies and a germ mama away from the daddy.  Adelade was so upset that this girl would separate the babies and their daddy.  Remember, still talking about imaginary germs here.  I tried to remind Adelade that pretend pet germs were not legitimate sources of strife between her and her real life friends, but she wasn’t convinced.

Recently Adelade and Sawyer were both infuriated because the other sibling had pretended to steal their imaginary germs.  I mean, really?

I can’t decide if this behavior means the kids are gifted or intellectually deficient.  I’m leaning toward gifted.  But, I’m not entirely sure.

While I wait to see how this intelligence thing turns out, I’ve decided to sit back and enjoy all the germ drama.  After all, sometimes it is painfully obvious that Frisco has wronged Deerie–how can I really expect him to just sit there and take it?  Thank Heavens the imaginary germs have my children to help them sort out all their issues.

Last week Adelade was filling out a questionnaire that asked if she has any pets.  She wrote “99 germs.”  I mean, you’ve just got to appreciate that kind of moxie. Germy?  Yes. Brilliant?  Maybe.  Adorable?  Without a doubt.

Apparently in second grade imaginary germs spread just as quickly as real ones.   My child is a major carrier of the imaginary kind.  And, oddly, I love that about her.