i'm afraid it won't come up

My son and I planted paper white bulbs the other day.

A week later, here is what mine look like:

 

And here is what his looks like:

 

Nothing. At all. What kind of mom sets her child up for horticultural failure?
 

 

When I ask him if he wants to water his flower, he looks confused and asks, "Mom, where mine flower?" Touché, Little Man. Where is your flower, indeed.

In all fairness, my bulbs were planted last year and flowered a couple times, while his was an extra that didn't fit in the pot, so it has spent quite a few months in a box in the laundry room. This all started when I noticed that my bulbs were starting to grow again. They were also in the laundry room. How they managed to grow in the absence of natural light and water is unknown to me, because I've always heard those are important. Perhaps it is a miracle.

Another miracle is what we need here, my friends. I'm having daily panic attacks à la "The Carrot Seed": you know, the book where the little boy plants a carrot seed and everyone tells him "it won't come up." What if nothing ever grows from his bulb? Will he be devastated? Will he even notice? Should I replace the bulb with one of mine, or use it as an opportunity to talk about how things don't always work out?

 

Maybe it doesn't even matter. This sweet boy is so proud of himself for successfully pouring water from a measuring cup onto his bulb. And that's enough for me.