Watching Eli’s intellect develop has been a blast. As he acquires language and begins to “reason,” I become increasingly fascinated. Language acquisition has always been a source of marvel for me, and getting to witness it firsthand has been nothing less than thrilling.
Already he attempts to “explain” things. So, for instance, when he throws his stuffed frog onto the kitchen counter it’s “fra cli?” (frog climb?). Or, he throws frog onto the floor and it’s “fra fall?” You get the idea. I worry he’s already learned how to lie, but figure he’s really just trying to reason things out.
It reminds me of a favorite story from my childhood. The short of it is: My brothers and I did not understand, hell, weren’t even aware of the concept of, um, elimination (and I’m talking #2’s, deuces, 10-2’s, whatever your preferred nomenclature). Why I do not know since we partook in it on a daily basis, but that’s not the point.
We were convinced that one day, and there was no telling what day this would happen, but one day we simply wouldn’t be able to eat anymore. We would finally and truly be full.
My most vivid memory of this belief was a rather lengthy conversation outside a store in a parking lot where we debated how “full” we were. Imagine three small children standing around pointing at various body parts proclaiming, “I think I’m this full.” I couldn’t have been older than five or six, and if memory serves, believe we reached a consensus that I was full up to just past my knees.
Did it occur to us that every adult (regardless of age) around us still ate every day, every meal? No. Did we think to ask an adult about this subject? Not that I can remember.
But man, we had some rollicking discussion amongst ourselves and the fervor of our belief both amuses and boggles me today.
I like to think of it as “Little Kid Logic.” I’m sure it’s the basis for our future analytic abilities, our knack (or lack thereof) of figuring things out.
The three of us dreaded the day when we’d be unable to eat another cookie, or ice cream, or spaghetti. As I got older I dreaded the day anyone found out I believed something so ridiculous.
As an adult I find it endearing and am thankful for such an entertaining connection back to my childhood self. And now, I turn my attention to my kids, waiting eagerly to see what kinds of explanations they come up with.
And you? What kind of Little Kid Logic did you come up with as a child (or have your children come up with?). Please share, I’d love to hear your stories…
As a tween I believed that we could solve our overpopulation problem here on earth, by living on another planet, and brilliantly exclaimed at the dinner table one night, "Hey, I have an idea! Let's put Earth in SPACE!!!" As if no one had ever thought of that, and my choice of wording left a little more to be desired, as Earth is, indeed, already in space.
ReplyDeleteI remember asking " what was it like when the world was in black and white?". Duh!!! I thought that some man invented color and that is why we now see the tv in color
ReplyDeleteOh, and I once asked "how big is water?"