An Afternoon Discussion on Leprechauns

In between many outdoor adventures in Maine (for another post), a conversation on leprechauns ensued while Jack and Grammie baked some Whoopie Pies today.

It started with Jack finishing his breakfast bowl of Lucky Charms while he sat at the counter to help make the cookies.  He wanted some more, but Grammie told him that some leprechauns were eating the Lucky Charms and they were all gone.

Jack wanted to know if leprechauns were "real in our life."  I told him that they might be, but we couldn't see them very well.  When I was a little girl, leprechauns used to sneak into the Alexander Elementary School and dump messy desks in the middle of the night.  Jack's response to this story was to ask if they were "real in our life" again.

I then consulted the internet for some more information on leprechauns, the random sites I found obviously being the definitive source on leprechauns.  In addition to the well-known fact that leprechauns guard the gold at the end of the rainbow, I was able to enrich Jack's leprechaun knowledge even further. 

For instance, leprechauns are only two feet tall (shorter than Casey) and live under mushrooms.  And they are tricksters.  I thought Jack would appreciate this as he likes to consider himself a little bit of a trickster sometimes.  He thinks it's funny to lock his car door while I'm walking around the car to get to his seat and buckle him.  I then try to open the door, and he laughs, unlocks it and then asks if he tricked me.  Gets me every time.  He also likes to yell "Surprise!" when he finally unlocks the door for me.

Anyway, the extra information about leprechauns didn't seem to impress Jack.  He started to develop some of his own theories instead.  Maybe the firemen can catch the leprechauns in their nets.  If we catch a leprechaun, we should hide him somewhere safe, like in one of the lobster traps down on the beach.  And finally he asked, "I wonder if Daddy takes care of leprechauns too [like he takes care of pirates]." 

Despite all the leprechaun theories and "facts", Jack continued to try to get the answer to his original question - "Yeah but Mommy, are leprechauns really in our life?"