'Catching Pole'

A few weeks back Charlie woke up in the middle of the night, came into my room and said "Mommy, I need a catching pole!" By this, he means a fishing pole, for those of you who do not understand Charlie-speak. Since then, Charlie has not forgotten about his 'catching pole', asking for it atleast once a day and handling a fishing pole enviously at LL Bean the other day.

I have tried to explain to him that it is the dead of winter and that, not being a family of ice fishers, we are not going to go fishing any time soon. I tried to console him last night, telling him that I would get him his 'catching pole' for his birthday and that we would most certainly go fishing this summer.

This morning he came into my room and asked, "Mommy, is today my birthday?"

It is going to be a long 4 months...