I witnessed another beautiful moment of T's emotional growth sometime before March 2017 when I read to him the picture book, The Snowman.
I have been reading to him a simplified version of The Snowman since he was about 7 months old. Even though he couldn't speak at all at that time, he seemed to have a genuine interest in the book since then. It was one of the books that he would bring to the parents to read. Sometimes, he would sit alone, even though he was far from understanding the writing, flipping through the pages.
After he 2nd birthday, we started to read the unabridged version of The Snowman. The plot is more complete and there are more pictures to illustrate the interaction between the hero, James, and the snowman.
T was very concentrated and patient when we went through the pictures. When we reached the ending, in which he found the snowman is missing, he looked at me in disbelief and slightly shocked. Then he flipped the pages back and forth as if he wanted to find the whereabouts of the snowman, but all were vain. He looked up at me and looked down at the book in his hand several times but still couldn't bring himself to the fact.
Of course it was not the first time for him to know the ending, but perhaps he had suddenly grown up in a certain way that his understanding of the loss that James feels in the story seemed to be fuller than before. The loss in his eyes was beautiful and tender, and to me that is one important step in one's emotional growth to know and feel that there is not always a happy ending awaits.
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