I spent the Fourth of July holiday weekend in San Felipe, México, with a large contingent of my wife’s family. On our final night, we unrolled our sleeping bags on the sand to sleep under the stars on the beach. Just before bed, my 5-year-old nephew plopped down next to me
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and said, “Let’s make wishes on the stars!”
ME: Ok, what’s your wish?
JULIAN: Um, [unintelligible]
ME: What?
JULIAN: [repeats] Ok, it’s your turn next.
ME: Oh, um. I wish… that I had a marshmallow.
JULIAN: Oh cool. I wish I was, uh, bag of marshmallows.
ME: [laughs] You wish you were a bag of marshmallows or you had a bag of marshmallows?
JULIAN: I had…
ME: Oh, okay. I wish I had a fire, then.
JULIAN: Me too!
ME: So I could cook the marshmallows.
JULIAN: Me too!
ME: You have to wish something else.
JULIAN: Um, okay. I just wish marshmallows!
ME: You just wish for marshmallows? I wish all those stars were marshmallows. [laughs]
JULIAN: [laughs] It’s my turn, okay. I wish I was a, I wish my tio (uncle) was a movie star.
ME: [laughs] You wish I was a movie star?
JULIAN: Yeah.
ME: That’s cool. I wish you were a superhero.
JULIAN: Oh that’s cool! My turn.
ME: Yeah. [iPhone screen went black] It’s on don’t worry keep going.
JULIAN: I wish I would fly to the moon so faster than a bird.
ME: You wish you could fly to the moon faster than a bird?
JULIAN: Yeah.
ME: Oh, that’s good. Um, I wish, I wish I could touch the stars and change the colors.
JULIAN: Cool! It’s my turn. I wish, I wish I could play all the hard/card games.
ME: You wish you could play them or bring them.
JULIAN: Play them on your phone.
ME: You want to play all the games on my phone?
JULIAN: Yeah, when I get six.
ME: When you turn six?
JULIAN: Yeah.
ME: How old are you now?
JULIAN: Still five.
ME: You’re still five, but when do you turn six?
JULIAN: …be big.
ME: I know you’ll be big, when? When’s your birthday? Do you know your birthday?
JULIAN: July 28th.
ME: July 28th! That’s only in a couple of weeks.
JULIAN: Mhmm, yeah it’s just a couple of weeks. It’s your turn.
ME: My turn, um. I wish I could swim like a fish.
JULIAN: Cool. I wish, I wish, I wish I would ride on a fish.
ME: A what-fish?
JULIAN: I wish I would ride.
ME: What kind of fish, a ride fish? I don’t know what kind of fish.
JULIAN: Um, it’s an animal that you can pick him and you can ride on him.
ME: You can ride on him.
JULIAN: Yeah.
ME: A riding fish.
JULIAN: Yeah!
ME: [laughs] Okay.
JULIAN: You know what? And a riding fish eats sharks.
ME: The riding fish eats sharks?
JULIAN: Yeah.
ME: Is it like Shamu or is it like a whale? What’s a riding shark?
JULIAN: I think it’s like a whale.
ME: Okay, what color is it?
JULIAN: Big and huge and pink.
ME: Big and huge and pink?!
JULIAN: Yeah, and Nathan you know what?
ME: What?
JULIAN: A ride fish is faster than a whale.
ME: He’s faster or fatter?
JULIAN: Faster.
ME: Oh, that’s cool.
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