Harry's Gang: Sadly, as nap time fades, so will trips with Becky bird

Eleanor has a birthday in 12 days. She’s been reminding me every morning that big, big things are going to happen when she turns 6, like she won’t need a booster seat in the car anymore (she will). And she won’t have to eat her vegetables if she doesn’t feel like it (not true at all), even though she still loves her carrots and beans. She won’t need training wheels on her bike anymore (hopefully) and there will be a big party with presents and cake and ice cream (she’s right about that).

But the most bittersweet pronouncement from my little baby girl is that once she’s 6, she’ll no longer need an afternoon nap.

I’m not sure how I feel about that. Ellie has been slowly conditioning me for this event, as she has been successfully skipping her naps more and more as she gets older. And her older brothers have been staying up later and later this summer, so she, too, feels it’s OK to still be awake at 9 p.m. (it isn’t). Just mentioning a nap gets her pretty resistant. The other day, when she was cranky and irritable at 2 p.m., Tara suggested she take a little nap.

You would have thought Mom suggested Ariel was a felon. Ellie’s whines and cries were pretty good evidence that she actually needed the nap, so I volunteered to take a nap with her, as I’ve done many, many times in the past five years.

Eventually, she settled down and snuggled up close. Drowsy on the verge of slumber, Ellie whispered to me: “Daddy, I’m going to miss Becky when I turn 6 and stop taking naps.”

It took me a few seconds to realize what she was talking about.

Becky, in case you didn’t know, is a bird. A robin, to be exact, who talks and plays with Eleanor during her nap time. Becky’s chirps sound like chirps to adults, but children hear her speaking in perfect English. When I hear ‘Chirp, chip, chirp” Ellie hears Becky calling from the bedroom window: “Ellie, come on, let’s go fly around town and have some fun.”

Becky first appeared at our window at the old house, when Ellie was about 3 years old. Apparently, just as Ellie was settling down for a nap, she looked over and noticed I was fast asleep. Suddenly, a bird appeared at the second-floor window and called to Ellie. Naturally, Ellie, polite as she is, greeted the bird and told her she was supposed to be napping.

“Nonsense,” said Becky. “Come fly with me. We’ll play in the treetops.”

“But I can’t fly,” Ellie told her. “I’m not a bird. I’m a little girl. I need wings to fly.”

Becky told her, “Really? Well, lift up your arms.” To her surprise, Ellie had sprouted wings under her arms. “Don’t be afraid, Ellie. We’ll fly. I’ll take care of you. We’ll have fun, and we’ll be back before your daddy wakes up.”

So Ellie tried it. And as she fell towards the ground, Becky shouted, “Flap your wings! Flap! You can do it!” And a gust of wind lifted Ellie up high, high, high and suddenly she was flying. The two spent an hour circling the neighborhood, zooming low and soaring high. And they even dive-bombed those little twin boys who live down the street, laughing loudly as they shrieked and ran. Soon, it was time to go home, and the two flew back to Ellie’s room, getting back into bed just as Daddy started to wake up.

“Goodbye, Becky,” Eleanor whispered.

Daddy murmured, “Who’s Becky?”

“Just some bird,” Ellie told him.

It was the first of many adventures the two of them had during naptime over the years. But Becky hasn’t come around for a while now, and I suppose after Ellie turns 6, she’ll make even fewer appearances. Friends move on as you get older, I guess, and Ellie will probably forget about her adventures playing with a bird. Maybe when Ellie has kids of her own she’ll remember her friend and tell them all about her adventures flying around the neighborhood with her little friend Becky.

Pete Radosevich is the publisher of the Pine Knot News community newspaper and an attorney in Esko who hosts the talk show Harry’s Gang on CAT-7. He can be reached at [email protected].