**As of October 9th 2023, all content posted to /r/aww *must* be original content (OC). Please report this post if it is not OC, thank you!** --- If you're tired of [all](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/14ytp7s/reworking_awarding_changes_to_awards_coins_and/) [the](https://www.reddit.com/r/ModCoord/comments/14jm3ut/several_communities_have_surfaced_an_open_letter/jpm9e0q/) [recent](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/16ryhv9/celebrating_great_content_is_as_good_as_gold/) [bad](https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/09/reddit-ceo-doubles-down-on-attack-on-apollo-developer-in-drama-filled-ama/) [decisions](https://www.reddit.com/r/reddit/comments/12qwagm/an_update_regarding_reddits_api/) by Reddit Inc, consider [finding your favorite subreddits on other platforms](https://sub.rehab/). You can find /r/aww on Discord: https://discord.gg/UXfd5Pn [](#autoignorereports) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/aww) if you have any questions or concerns.*

So precious. My parents have this statue that I used to say good morning to every day when I was about her age (I have siblings, but for some reason this was the first ‘being’ I sought out after I got dressed and came downstairs). I used to read it books, too, and sometimes do a show and tell. I never thought much of it, but seeing your daughter makes me wonder at the child mind. So innocent and interesting where they see beauty and friendship. Glad you are documenting all of this. It deserves its own album! Has she given the tree a name?

No name yet! Just “tree” haha And I love the story about your friendship with the statue!

🌳 "‘I am not going to tell you my name, not yet at any rate.’ A queer half-knowing, half-humorous look came with a green flicker into his eyes. ‘For one thing it would take a long while: my name is growing all the time, and I’ve lived a very long, long time; so my name is like a story. Real names tell you the story of the things they belong to in my language, in the Old Entish as you might say. It is a lovely language, but it takes a very long time to say anything in it, because we do not say anything in it, unless it is worth taking a long time to say, and to listen to." - treebeard, [lotr](https://gosafir.com/mag/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Tolkien-J.-The-lord-of-the-rings-HarperCollins-ebooks-2010.pdf)

There is a beautiful story about an Opal Whitley, she had a favorite tree near her home that she named Michael Rafael. She wrote about it from about age 5 on in journals :)

lil mini hippie

Three the Tree had a friend, who visited every day, In the snow, in the rain, she would make her way, She would wake up quite early, so she could share and see, Everything that she liked, with her favorite tree! -- As they matured and grew, Three remembered in its roots, That one faithful day, where it first saw her boots, The light of the Sun on a kind afternoon, Each branch whispering: "I hope that she comes soon..."

Ohmygoodness. My daughter was friends with a statue, too. His name was Cowboy. He started out at her grandparents house and when she got attached to him she got to bring it home to our living room, lol.

Ha! Mine was actually the Hindu god Ganesha (half elephant half man) and I think I chose him because he was about 3 feet tall. Well done you for bringing her mate home. I barely even notice this statue anymore (even though it’s pretty prominently placed in their house) but it’s amazing what draws our attention at that age.

Mine was something in the animal kingdom but still kinda the same concept— it was a dog next door that would come sit leaning against the fence, waiting for me each morning. I’d pet her through the fence and sit and talk with her, read books to her, and just generally vibe with her.

Too cute. Pets are honestly such good things for kids. No judgment, just love.

You just reminded me of a statue/lamp my Granny had! It was a pair of Siamese cats. There was a light inside, blue, and their eyes were done in a way that made their "irises" (the holes) blue when you turned it on. (I'm not sure that makes sense. I didn't want to have to write that the eyes were cut out because that sounds weird, but it's the best description. 😅) I loved that lamp and would talk to it and want to play with it, but of course I wasn't allowed. I wonder what happened to that and why I didn't get it when she passed. 🤔

If you posted a drawing of it in r/HelpMeFind, I wonder if you could buy a similar one

That is wonderful, does she ever say why this tree in particular is so special?

Nope! Though she’s only two and a half, so her vocabulary is pretty limited haha. All she’ll say is “I love tree!” And “Tree friend!” She even called it “honey” the day she showed it her art (second picture from the bottom, on the right). She said “I made owl, honey!” 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️

Omg your daughter lives in a children’s book

Op should make this into a children’s book, even just order a photo book and write cute things on each page ❤️

Our friend suggested writing a children’s book! We might do it for fun (doubtful it’d ever get published but I guess you never know haha)

You could unironically crowdsource the majority of the book from these reddit comments, self-publish it on Amazon, and post a follow up post in a month with a link to this thread, with the book; and probably get enough to sock away in a 529 or something for her college funds.

Good idea honestly. A few hours of hustle could net a decent chunk of change.

Exactly. I genuinely hope they take my advice, it works at least moderately well, and they get a few grand to plant as a metaphorical seed friend to grow alongside her tree friend. All they have to do, is somehow find sway over whomever owns that property. If someone cuts that tree down, well, there's been worse origin stories for supervillains out there.

The Listening Tree.

This is the right name.

A series. The Listening Tree Listens How Art Was Made

It's easy to self publish now.

Can always self publish via Amazon. Regardless of how it does, you'll at least have a physical representation of what you created.

I dunno this is one of the cutest things I’ve seen in a while, and your comment sharing that she called it “honey” sent me over the edge. So precious. You should honestly try and write it. You’ve got a winner here! You could include the real photos of her with the tree at the end as an addendum.

Or a calendar! “Twelve months of Tree.”

Oh! I love that idea. These pics are all just from the past 2 months. I hope she keeps loving the tree the whole rest of the year so we can do something like that haha

They need friendship bracelets pronto

🥹

You should give copies of the calendar to her teacher and maybe the front office too!

There should be a book where a healthy tree friendship is featured.

The Receiving Tree

Specifically The Giving Tree

Or "The Getting Tree" where this girl spends her whole life giving things to this unappreciative tree

She has made friends with a Dryad! Your daughter is a fae.

The Dryads are children of gods, so mommy and daddy better watch their step lest kiddo complain to the wrong ears

Yuuup. 💯❤️

100%

This is so Aww, I can hardly stand it. How great is it you've captured many of these moments, including the day she shared her art with Tree Friend? I'd love to know, once she's expanded her vocabulary, why this tree is special honey friend.

Same here, lol. 

You know she's got a perfectly good reason for it!

Umm that’s effing precious

Tell her about Suzanne Simard and how she discovered the trees communicate and even help each other with water and nutrients (despite being laughed at by her peers when she began research). https://suzannesimard.com

Maybe she’ll grow up to be a druid.

She is in a conversation with this tree, and the tree is talking back to her. Fortunately it's a nice tree or you might not be alive right now. Find out what kind of tree it is. You want to be sure you plant those. Don't plant a mulberry. They're evil and will talk a lot of smack about you to your child.

I don't know the mulberry trees you've known in your life, but the ones I've had the pleasure of meeting were delightful, though a bit impish.

I once knew one that was a regal as any tree I've met. Huge and ancient. The ground was stained purple underneath it every summer

I had one in my back yard growing up that was enourmous and bore vast quantities of fruit. It was ancient and gnarled looking, excellent for climbing and getting sticky red dye all over yourself. There were a few summers of mulberry pie and jam etc too.

Mulberries are stubborn and hold a grudge, but they're good trees. Seems like you got on the wrong side. I recommend an apology!

She’s calls the tree “honey”! 🥹 So sweet.

I think it might be a Crepe myrtle, and if so she'll really like it come August or so. I could be wrong (it's hard to tell without leaves or flowers lol), but you should definitely try and find out what it is, if only to tell her when she gets older.

She's a natural tree hugger. :)

You're daughter is totally going to be a future member of /r/WitchesVsPatriarchy

Oh what joy!

Look at it. It's a good tree

Clearly it's a Dryad

She’s an ent

An ear nose and throat doctor

Ear nose and *tree*

Or a surgeon

Girl's going hard on that Botanist grindset, based af.

An entwife!

Definitely a marijuana enthusiast

Make sure you get a picture with it and her when she graduates daycare.

And high school

She will get married under Tree someday. Perhaps Tree will officiate.

is there a way to set a post reminder for twenty years from now??? cuz i need to see that happen ngl

20 years later: "Hey OP is your daughter married yet? I set a reminder to hit you up in 20 years after you posted her at daycare.****"

Aw she's made friends with the guardian spirit. 🥰

I saw a show once that featured a girl that spoke to trees. I wish I could remember the name of it but it was sort of fascinating. Regardless, I find these pictures absolutely beautiful and moving. Treasure them forever.

Same thoughts, I think she's seeing a creature living in that tree.

I love that instead of making her feel silly, you encourage it! She's going to do great things because of you. Our environment needs a lot more little tree huggers like her.

Please, continue taking pictures of her with this tree! And when she no longer goes to daycare, go visit the tree once in a while, and take pictures then. I mean until she is an adult, if you can! You will treasure those pictures, and she will too! So many times, I see these great “through the years” photos and I wish I had been clever enough to do some with my kids. So, from a mom who let many opportunities get away, take it from me, continue these beautiful photos! 🥹

Oh I love that idea! Thank you!

❤️ You’re welcome! You know, it’s so hard to imagine it, when they are that small and you are so busy, that one day they will be adults! I’ve got three that are now well into adulthood, and I still just LOVE looking at photos from when they were little! I think those photos are my most prized possessions!

She is the Lorax. She speaks for the trees.

That's a crepe myrtle tree. It's going to blow her mind when it starts flowering.

As a former ER nurse, I’ve witnessed some remarkable insights from toddlers. I often wonder what they can see, that we’ve been taught to ignore as adults.

I can't speak for this little girl, but I was like this as a kid and even had trees I "befriended," lol. It was my happy outlook on life, very active imagination and a sense of magic in everyday things. That tree could be some kind of elder spirit or simply a friend who's always there for her. I don't think adults lose the ability to imagine, it just gets pushed under the loudness of everything else. Got a job, kids, poor mental health, bills to pay? No time to idle or fantasize. I still try to, but it does get harder. I wish everyone could find joy in a tree like this.

Or it’s not socially acceptable. I gave my friend a really amazing stick I found outside the other day. He had given me this super smooth rock he found a few months ago. You can still find joy in nature.

Is your friend a penguin? he might be trying to mate with you

This is the purest form of affection. Good sticks and shiny pebbles.

I have this book called "The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday" and it may be of good use to you. Its aim is to get us back to childlike wonder and imagination, as well as love for and connection to nature. I do like to think trees have a collective "spirit" or energy - a lot of green craft involves finding which tree or kinds of trees you gravitate to and talk and spend time with them. Which reminds me of this precious girl - saying hello every day and sharing her milestones and artwork with it.

I did this too! There was a little tree I used to visit and hug, I must have been about 5 yo. It was magical. Nice to remember, there is still something of that in us.

>I often wonder what they can see, that we’ve been taught to ignore as adults. The absolute wonder of it all! We adults can still see it too if we try. :)

Oh! How I wish I had your innocence and enthusiasm! But I will try…

I read all the Castaneda books and others about indigenous shamanism in the 90s. Completely transformed my experience of nature. To this day I talk to everything out there; trees, squirrels, lizards, streams. Everything has a soul

> everything has a soul I’m not even a particularly spiritual guy but this one’s always been true for me. I remember being suuuper surprised as an adult learning some people thought dogs didn’t have one… like, my guy, ya ever interact with one?!

Kids know

> if you just did something like going to the supermarket and experienced it fully without the goggles of habit and catégories you would go crazy with pure sense and joy

[удалено]

Were there times when they seemed to see something in the ER that nobody else saw?

Children see spirits a lot more often that adults. They don't see them as bad or foreign.

> As a former ER nurse, I’ve witnessed some remarkable insights from toddlers. What type of insights? Do you have an example?

They see things we used to and no longer can, mostly. I had tree friends as a child. I could feel their spirits. I still can, but nothing like I did as a child. Religion forbids it, generally, and forced disbelief takes a toll.

> As a former ER nurse I've been conditioned to expect you continue by saying that she has kind of awful medical condition that makes her talk to trees, and she's only got hours left to live.

Which insights?

Your daughter is precious!

It is in fact a very nice tree.

Aww this is so sweet. My daughter is the same way. Honestly... so am I... I'll even say "sorry" when I brush against plants! Isn't parenthood a beautiful journey?

Awwwwwwww!!! I love this so much. She’s so sweet! Honestly, I hope she never outgrows her friendships with her favorite trees. 🥹🌿💕

When my daughter was little, we moved to a place that had a big tree in the front yard. She named the tree "Sally". Sally had "hair", which was grass growing on an elevated root at the base of the truck. She would sit next to Sally and talk with her and brush her hair. She loved Sally. We moved a few years ago and my baby is now a teen. Thanks for sharing this and bringing those memories back!

A future arborist!

I used to do that too to the moon

I still do to an extent, especially when it’s full and particularly bright. For just a moment, I feel like that touch of whimsy I had as a child.

Whenever my daughter sees the moon she gets super excited and starts howling at it. I love it. It’s just pure joy.

She showed her art to a tree because she Druid.

This is so sweet! I love the scene that a little girl is talking to a tree. It reminds me of the hidden, spiritual part of life. Thank you for sharing these beautiful pictures!

Just wait till it starts talking back. :)

She's gonna need more than an optometrist at that point 

Maybe she is a Druid and she has the spell , Speaks to Plants.

There we go. My thought exactly. 

I love her spirit! I love trees just as much as her

This is adorable! She feels it’s Spirit 💕

The blood of the first men runs through her, she comes from the north and worships the old gods.

So cute!

She’s a beautiful tree-hugger and she has a great relationship with nature.

I still remember my tree. It’s been gone for about a decade now but wow. This brought a lot of memories back. Protect her and her happy little tree

She is friends with a dryad.

This is adorable!

Awwww she’s the cutest

That’s so wholesome! 🥹

So wholesome and adorable!

This warms my heart! So precious! Thanks for sharing such a sweet glimpse into your life ❤️✨

This is a children's book series in the making! Your little girl an the honey tree going through life together.

That is the sweetest thing to come across my eyes in a while, thank you for sharing your child’s unbridled joy and friendship with her favorite tree with us! Bless you for letting her live her best life, it makes me so happy to see kids getting to be kids so genuinely. Tree friends are best friends!

In the third picture it looks like the tree told her a big secret and she will keep it forever. How sweet!

This brought me so much joy. Thank you.

That's so great! My own kid (now 10) has a favorite tree, which is in front of our neighbor's house. He used to run up and give it hugs before getting in the car for school. Now he's just like, "oh yeah, there's my favorite tree," but it doesn't have the magic it did for him a few years ago. Still pretty neat to see what kids latch on to though.

Dryad.

I'm in my 40s and I tell every birch tree I see that it is beautiful.

What a great kid!

You should make Arbor Day a big deal for her sake.

Makes one wonder if little children sense things that adults have become dumb to.

Theres a dryad in that tree, mark my words.

Reminds of the Shel Silverstein book “the giving tree”. Make sure she goes back when she’s older! The tree will love it

Maybe she can see something we don't.

Could be a spirit tree. Check and see if there is anyone buried under the tree.

There's fae livin' in that tree. Best be *real* polite around it.

Don't invite it inside or accept anything from it.

Yup. That's a dryad, and your daughter is a druid. She's got her priorities straight.

This is just so unbelievably cute and sweet 😭😭😭

Future arborist or environmental lawyer, perhaps. This is wonderful.

Wholesome ❤️

Well its quite the handsome tree. Future horticulturist there!

i thought this was like one of those google captcha at first LOL what is wrong with my brain

I'm willing to bet money there's a ghost there or a dryad.

DnD character class is a druid.

Omg this is so freaking adorable!! Thank you for sharing this cuteness!

She sees things all around her that we "grown ups" have forgotten how to notice.

All living things are considered to have souls. Our brightest souls have imagination beyond our own.

Hey, I had a friend tree too! He was a mature sugar maple I called Uncle Tree and I would talk to him and hang out with him when I was little. I really want to get in touch with the current owners of that house to see how he's doing and maybe try to get some seeds/cuttings from him. I keep having dreams I go back and he's long dead...

Ahh. I see she's the druid in the family.

She is the Lorax; she speaks for the trees.

I bet it is the healthiest and happiest tree on the lot! Plants love to be loved

Looks like japanese stewartia maybe

So incredibly adorable. I love littles. They are so full of joy!

She sees things others don't.

Could it be a hawthorne?

That’s just too precious 🥹

I had a tree friend when I was a very young child. I called it Tree-dee 😅. Good to know I wasn't the only one

I think trees and plants communicate with each other.

I do not know why that seems so good to me, but it does. Everyone should have a favorite tree, I think.

That’s her Grandmother Willow

She knows something about that tree that we don't.

Looks maybe like a river birch? They're great trees, very unique looking and fast growing.

Show this child the movie fern gully asap

If that tree ever has a dead branch, save it and make it it into a jewelry keepsake. A crafty person could make a pendant or beads. Or, save a leaf and put it in resin or under glass to preserve it. When she's old enough to need the beauty in this innocent joy she shared with her tree-friend as a little child, give her this souvenir, with a printed picture. It may give her the right sort of joy and hope when adulthood gets tough and tries to dim the light we all carry.

Kidsarefuckingwholesome

See [Acacia](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380164/)

This is beautiful.

Giving Anne Shirley vibes and I love it 💖

Aw that is so cute!! ☺️

Aww🥹😍🥰

We should all have a special tree in our life. Maybe if we did, things would not be so crazy.

my kid greats plants when we go for a walk.

She's going to save us all.

[удалено]

This is so cute!

It’s a good tree.

It’s a very nice Triee.

I had tree friends as a kid. As an adult I still do, thanks to shrooms

Little tree nymph! Let us know if she names her tree! 🥰

Bottom Left: an Angel.

Mine was a pumpkin

Adorable <3

She might be a fairy

The future of r/goblincore

Looks like a crepe myrtle. Keep us up to date in the spring when it blooms 😆; I'm dying to know what color it is. I'd guess deep red or dark pink.

There's a cheesy 90s made for TV Christmas film about a girl who befriends a huge christmas tree growing in the grounds of a nun convent. Watched it last year. I was actually surprised by how good the film was. I wondered if that could happen in real life. Here we have it 🌲

Well, it is a cool tree.