Our vacation for spring break was at Disneyland Paris. We wanted Eden to be able to meet the Disney princesses while she is young enough to still feel the magic. Eden started asking probing questions before the trip: “Are the princesses magic at Disneyland like in the movies?” “If the princesses are at Disneyland, then did they have to get out of the movie, and how come I can still see them in the movie?” During the trip, Alden had a whim to invent a character that he wanted to describe to us. So while Eden was playing, Alden said out of the blue:

“Beagle” is a monster that comes after you. He eats you. He’s not real though; he’s just pretend. When he sees you…

Eden wasn’t listening at first. She interrupted and wanted to know, “Who’s not real? Who’s pretend?!”

Alden explained again, “‘Beagle’ is not real. I just made him up.”

Eden was relieved at the explanation. She must have a notion that something is suspicious though. She also probably doesn’t want to admit to herself what she knows.

Elisa is a believer in the magic. When we saw the Disneyland light show in the evenings, Elisa was singing along and laughing. Their finale was the song “You can fly.” After it ended, she turned to us and shouted, “I can fly! I can fly!”