Literalist

Chickie is at that age where her little ears pick up so much, and her young brain processes things so quickly, and she asks questions--lots of questions! She's also still very literal, which makes some of the questions both comical and difficult! It's a little like talking to Data, that android from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Yesterday morning we were trying to get out of the house so I could drop off the kids at a friend's and go to an appointment. "Chickie, we need to go to your friends' house--we're running late," I said.

"We're running?"

"Well, I mean we're just going to be a little later than I wanted to be," I explained.

In her voice of logic, she informed me, "We're going to drive there, Mommy. It's too far to run."

Later in the day, I was getting ready to put both kids down for their naps. (Yes, Chickie has been napping again, almost daily! Mama's happy.) I was singing a song from Sandra Boynton's album Dog Train. "I need a nap," I sang. "I just can't taaake anymoooore."

"You can't take anymore what, Mommy?" Chickie asked.

And you know, it's really hard to explain these phrases that are part of my vocabulary but really make little logical sense. I said, "Well...it just means you're so tired that you can't take being awake any longer."

I love these literal questions, even though they sometimes leave me stumped! It shows me how much she is listening, and learning, constantly. If that rapid level of learning continued into adulthood, we'd all be brilliant. We'd still run late and find that sometimes we can't take anymore...but we'd be brilliant.