Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Learnin' from kids...it's great, ain't it!?

It goes without saying that my children are smart. I can only hope they keep up the good work throughout their educational careers. I'd like to bestow upon you a few things they've taught me recently:
Math ain't my strong suit however Southern dialect seems to be, huh?! The kids and I have this routine where we try to put how much we love each other into words. For instance, Hallie will say, "Mommy? I love you all the way to the North Pole!" (Melts my heart every time.) Hayden has learned infinity - the theory that numbers go on and on and on...and on. So, he'll throw that one out there: "Mommy? I love you infinity!" (My little number cruncher...I'm so proud!)
So, Hayden comes home from school and hits me with this:
"Mommy? Did you know there is a number bigger than infinity?
(I'm instantly nervous - like he just asked me how to solve a word problem or something!)
"No there's not! Infinity is the biggest number...even I know that!", I reply.
"Yes there is!", he answers back.
"Okay, fine! What is it?", I ask.
"Blasobian."
(Pronounced Blah-so-bee-in)
"Where'd you hear that?" I question.
"I just learned it." he informs me.
So...I think I'm right in this equation (pun intended) but I feel it necessary to confirm my correctness over a six year old. Give me a break! We're talking about math here...I'm uneasy around numbers!
So, later that night as they're all tucked away safely in bed, I ask their daddy if there is a number bigger than infinity known as blasobian. His dead serious response -
"Jenn? Are you letting Hayden trick you with math again?"
The answer - Yes.
Finally, Hallie threw one out the other day that had us all laughing. Every morning as Hallie and I are headed to school we see our neighbor, John, out walking Molly and Roxy - his two dogs - and we always wave at him. Hallie loves it when he waves back. (It's the little things, right?) Anyway, she asked me the other day why John wasn't going to work. My answer was that John was retired. She didn't question it. Simply went along.
Later in the week, her daddy had to carry her to school one morning and she asked him,
"Daddy? What's retired mean?"
(Keep in mind daddy knows nothing about how she heard the word.)
He responded, "It's someone that doesn't have to work."
"Oooohhhhhh. John and Bev are retired."
This morning...she asked me if Courtnee's daddy was retired. (Courtnee is their friend in the cul-de-sac who comes with a set of great parents.)
I said, "No. What makes you ask that?"
"Well, he doesn't go to work, so he's retired like John and Bev." she responded.
(Courtnee's daddy - Chris - works from home.) I should have told her he's only retired on Friday's when you can most often find him on the golf course!
It's funnier coming out of her mouth, but I'm hopeful the humor translates.