17-Max Mason
ENGLAND

We did not know if Max knew what a dream was. We assumed he had dreams because everyone seems to have dreams, even if they cannot always remember them. We were curious about Maxi's dreams, as I guess all parents are about their child's inner life. We would ask Max about his dreams though we were never sure that it was his dreams he was telling us about.

Sometimes, when we asked him about what he had done at the child-minders, he would enthusiastically say, "Seaside!" The child-minder certainly had not taken Max there, but he very much wanted to go.

It was the same with his dreams. When he said "Puddles", we did not know whether he had dreamt about jumping in them, or whether that was what he wanted to do next.

Max is two and half years old and sleeps for a couple of hours every afternoon. Sometimes he is slow to wake. If we have to leave earlier than usual, I have to wake him up. I do this very gently because he gets quite grumpy if he is woken quickly. Recently, I had to wake him up. I got down on the floor next to the cot, where I could see his sleeping face, and started quietly talking to him, till I saw him stirring and waking up. I stopped talking as he opened his mouth and he said, very clearly: "Zebra". He opened his eyes and then there was a long pause. Finally, he said with real disappointment in his voice: "Oh . . . . . where's it gone?"