Kids talking to animals

The other weekend, I was sitting in my backyard working on the crossword puzzle, when I heard my neighbor go out to her backyard and start watering the plants. A few minutes later, I heard her 5 year old daughter open the back door and start talking to her mom. I wasn't intentionally eavesdropping, and because of the sound of water coming out of the hose, I was only able to catch part of their conversation, but what I did hear had me smiling all afternoon.

The first thing I heard was "Mom, Cricket said . . . " Cricket is their family dog and I didn't get to hear exactly what she was relaying about Crickets' wishes because of the running hose, but I thought it had something to do with going with them in the car.

My neighbor didn't say anything that I could hear . . . but then I heard her daughter say, "You know sometimes when people aren't around, dogs can talk" and then just as she started explaining more about what Cricket had told her, the sound of the hose got louder and I missed the rest of the sentence, but I was so tickled by the part I did hear, I scrambled to find an open space on the newspaper to write down what she said, so that I wouldn't forget it. It was just too precious.

I smiled all afternoon, thinking about the darling 5 year old's comments and remembering my own experiences as a child, "hearing" what animals said. I never heard my neighbor negate her daughter's statements and that made me smile too. There is nothing worse than having someone not believe you can really hear what an animal has to say, especially when you are a child.

One of the things I used to love most about my trips to the park with Lucky was hearing what all the kids heard Lucky tell them. They would say things like "Lucky is really happy to see me today" or "Lucky is really glad that we are friends" or "Lucky would like me to throw the ball for her again." I never doubted anything they ever said. I have always believed that we are all born with psychic abilities and while most of us learn to ignore our abilities as we grow older, the magic of children is that most of them haven't learned to ignore or second guess it yet.

So if you have children or you are around children, listen to what they say when they tell you what an animal has told them. Even if you aren't ready to believe it, it will make you smile. And just maybe, you'll learn a thing or two about your animal.