The following is part of a Monty-Python-esque conversation my 6-year-old son D- and 3-year-old daughter M- had today with their noses pressed against the patio doors, watching the frolicking of the new litter born to our thirteen-lined ground squirrel friends "Nibble Purple" and "Sunflower Stripehead".*
Unfortunately, I made the mistake of asking my wife aloud if a little thing near them in the grass was a dead sibling. The flies shortly confirmed this suspicion, and the kids then became intensely focused on this one instead of all the unbearably cute and very alive ones.
M- (trying desperately to find it): Is that the dead one?
D- (patiently): No, it's the one that's not moving.
M-: Is that one it? ...No, it's moving. ...Is that one it? No, it's moving, too.
D- (authoritatively): All the ones that are moving are dead.
M- (buying it, but just trying to make sure she has it straight): All the ones that are moving are dead?
D- (as if she misheard him): No, all the ones that are moving are NOT dead-- they're alive. All the ones that are NOT moving are dead.
M-: Oh.
* Guess who named them.
8 comments:
I'd make sure that dead one is still there in the morning. I've seen the chipmunks chew through plastic garbage cans in these parts. I don't want to think about what a zombie chipmunk is capable of doing.
I dig your son's attempt at using authority to cover his error. My husband still does that.
If you convince yourself something is true, then it is.
I'm so proud that you know the difference between chipmunks and 13 line ground squirrels!
Wow, that really clears it up.
WHAT is your favorite color?
yep... clear as mud.
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