Bigger Now?

A variety of things are tucked under P's bed. Mostly underbed drawers contain extra sheets, blankets, and bags that fulfill my need for a chic diaper tote. In the front corner, tucked against his night stand is a Lite Brite. 

 That's right; that wonderful vintage light up board with holes that make those translucent colored pegs glow in whatever shape you choose. I jumped at the opportunity when a co-worker offered her son's long outgrown version to my son. It is the updated "flat screen" model. In hindsight apparently only the child in me thought this was a good plan. I have almost spilled the tiny little pegs more than once, which is what led to being banished to the darkness under the bed in the first place. As a mother of a little boy what in the world was I thinking! I brought a zillion tiny objects into my house to no doubt plague us with a painful step at all hours of the day and night. It's ok though, because P doesn't go under his bed for anything.

Yesterday afternoon I was attempting to have a bit of quiet time sitting on the couch, when I hear a tiny voice from his room. "Mama, what this?" Now he could have been asking about anything. Usually that question is in reference to a leaf, piece of fuzz, or random dog toy that has been unearthed from who knows where. I enter his room and don't see him. Never a good sign. He's not hanging from the ceiling fan or standing on any shelves/bookcases, then up pops his little head from the otherside of the bed. "Come 'ere" he says complete with his pointed gesture.

Can you guess what I found when I walked to the other side of the bed? You bet! It was the Lite Brite. Only a few pieces had escaped the handy little drawer at the bottom of the new improved version and the button had been pushed so the light was on. "See, what this?" he says with his classic quizzical look.

I'm quick to tell him that it's something he can have when he's bigger, scoop up stray pegs and tuck them away, then start trying to quickly cram the still lit Lite Brite back under the bed. He's worried that it's still lit. I can't make it go off! It's on a darn timer so once it's lit it stays that way for an unspecified amount of time. I get it safely tucked under the bed and the bed skirt pulled back down around it. As I start to find something to distract my unforgetful little boy's mind he looks up at me and back at the bed. "I bigger now?" he asks. "Not quite big enough." I tell him. We go on about our day playing with all sorts of things.

Hours later, I'm leaning towards 4 or 5, I find him sitting again on the otherside of his bed. He knows he's not to touch anything so he looks up at me and assertively tells me "I bigger now." "Not quite big enough," again I tell him. Crisis adverted until another day.

I'm torn between letting him play with it supervised with just a handful of pegs or putting it away somewhere else until he truly is "bigger now." Technically every minute later he is in some way bigger and I wonder if he knows that too.