Saturday, November 22, 2008

Somewhere Down the Line

I see that my high school friend's ex-girlfriend got married. A woman who, as I recall, planned to "never get married." I guess what she meant to say is, "I'll never get married to you."
Sometimes I don't know why we bother saying anything at all. We're all bound to contradict ourselves somewhere down the line.
H on the other hand tells it like it is. He is literal; very literal. Last night we were reading I love you Little One, one of those reassuring little feel-good board books where the baby animals all ask, "do you love me Mama?" and the Mamas all answer that of course they do. We're about three baby animals in and H stops me and says, "Animals don't talk."
Earlier in the week we had out Woodland Creatures, a set of wooden animals that includes some landscape objects like trees and a pond. H holds up a grayish piece and asks me what it is. "It's a tree," says C, "no wait, it's a rock." I take the child psychology route and turn the question around, "What do you think it is?" I ask H. "I think it's wood," he says flatly and without a hint of irony.
One last example. C has this annoying bear (given to him by his grandparents) that uses word recognition to play a variety of games where it asks questions and then congratulates you if you answer correctly. So H turns it on and the game is "What Am I?" wherein the bear says the following phrase, "What Am I? Am I a dog, or a fire truck?" The bear then makes a noise like either a dog or a fire truck and the child is prompted to answer.
From the living room I can hear the bear saying, "What Am I?" and H answering, "YOU'RE A BEAR!"

song: Somewhere Down the Line • artist: Billy Joel.

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