Going on a Bear Hunt

Lately, Troy's been listening to this children's song called "Going on a Bear Hunt." In the song, these two children decide to hunt down a bear. Their journey takes them through some tall grass, across a river, through a muddy swamp, and into a dark cave. Inside the cave, they encounter something scary and sinister, and they realize that the bear is in there with them. They quickly make their way out of the cave, back through the muddy swamp, across the rive, through the tall grass, and safely back inside their house. Where they both agree never to go on a bear hunt again.

Out of the blue today, Troy started singing the song (or as many made-up lyrics as he could muster), and I decided it would be fun to create a real-life bear hunt for him. So, I put the coat rack and a lamp upstairs to be a black forest, hanging a sinister blue snake from the branches. I put a dark-blue blanket on the floor in a wavy configuration to be a ferocious river. And I stacked up a huge pile of pillows to be an impassable mountain. And if he made it through all of this, he'd find himself in a pitch-black "cave," where I hid his giant teddy bear just barely visible in the low light.

Troy loved it! He was singing the song along with my wife and I, as he traversed the obstacles at warp speed. "We're going on a bear hunt [we're going on a bear hunt]. I've got my binoculars [I've got my binoculars]. I'm not scared [I'm a little scared]. Uh-oh there's a big river. We can't go over it [we can't go over it]. We can't go under it [we can't go under it]. We're just going to have to swim it [I hope it's not too chilly]. Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!" Of course when he was done, he wanted to go on a dragon hunt and then a monster hunt. I'm glad we could provide him a little unexpected entertainment today.