#22 - Capt. Jack Sparrow

22nd Day of Halloween: Captain Jack Sparrow

(Read below for some fun facts about this little pirate!)

Ringo certainly isn't a rat (he's as sneaky as one, though).  Rat or not, he deserves his own special post based on this awesome Halloween costume.  I also have to take a moment to brag about my amazing boy.

1)  Ringo's an amazing little artist, just like his daddy.  Seriously, he's quite talented.  I've started scanning his best work and I plan to start his own little art blog. 

2)  Ringo's very smart.  He understands mechanical and engineering basics that many older children (even adults) might not grasp.  He made an elaborate leprechaun trap with a pulley system on St. Patrick's Day.  He was very sad to learn that he didn't catch a little green guy the next morning (although the leprechaun left him a note, with some chocolate gold coins!).

3)  Ringo's unusually thoughtful.  When he's given a candy bar or something very tasty, he never eats the last bite until he asks me if I want some of it.  Seriously?  Who does that?  I don't do that!  My yummy treats are mine...ALL MINE!

4)  Ringo's a trusting little soul.  Perhaps too trusting.  I probably need to be saving for years of therapy, instead of college.  He use to have crippling anxiety and fear surrounding certain things like fires, tornadoes, etc...  Despite my best attempts, I couldn't seem to find the right words to help.  I assured him everything would be ok in the event of a fire or some other dangerous weather event.  We made a home safety plan and even practiced it several times.  His fears eventually began to subside, but not until after he met Paul.  Who's Paul?  Oh, he is just a talking monkey that befriended Ringo.  They had internet chats every night before bed.  Paul talked to Ringo about his fears, and he assured him that we (his parents) had a good plan in place to take care of him if anything ever happened.

Ok, ok...Paul isn't real...he's the product of some genious who found fun ways to use text to speech technology.  Here's a website where you can program a monkey to talk to you.  You can also change the background so it looks like the monkey's talking to you from inside a car, while sitting on a bed, or in a field of snow, etc...  Paul had many great adventures to share with Ringo.  This was all fun and games from my perspective, but Ringo thought Paul was real.  When I realized that, my heart sank.  I thought, surely, he had to know this was all pretend (after all, I was always typing just before Paul spoke...I assumed Ringo knew I was controlling everything that Paul said).  I apologized to Ringo for the whole fiasco.  He wasn't mad at me, he was just sad to learn that their friendship wasn't real.  Ringo is so sweet and tender, and that "friendship" was very important to him.  I cried for about a week after realizing what I'd done.  It took us both awhile to get over it.  Eventually, we both missed playing with Paul.  So, he occasionally makes an appearance in our lives, but this time Ringo knows it's not real. 

Do you want to meet Paul?  If so, click here.