At Six
First bite into food. Mmmmmm. Life is good.
At Six-and-a-half
How many odd numbers are there? Are there more odd than even?
Mom, how many people are there in the world?
Mom, how old is Count Dooku? Yoda? Darth Vader?
What is three minus four? What is 13-15? What is negative zero?
Mommy, I know what 1000 minus 300 is. 700.
“HOW did you figure that out??”
By thinking. I thought hard.
“Tennyson, you’re talking back to Mom.”
No, I’m not.
*30 minutes later*
“Tennyson, you’re talking back to Mom.”
No, I’m not. OH — Yes, I am.
It was one of those days. He was just one bottomless appetite. I told him not to eat the boiled egg we were experimenting with for science.
The egg vanished.
He came over and whispered in my ear: Mom, I ate my homework.
At Seven
Umma, how much is 100%?
“All of it. No leftovers.”
How much is 300%?
*How to explain??*
Vocalizing his pleasure over the meal at the restaurant (yums and groans and all): Umma, I’m an expert at eating.
Umma, What makes God laugh?
Mom, is anything bigger than God? How many suns fit inside Him?
Aug 4, A barrage of questions ~
What colors do you mix to get white?
What color is make-believe?
Is there make-believe in outerspace?
Daddy: “Yeah, it’s called Star Wars.”
Aug 19
Boy: When you walked away [after yelling at me] my face got red as raspberries and I wanted to scare you [when you came back out of the room].
Mom: Oh, you wanted to startle me when I’ve asked you not to do that.
Boy: (Nod) Uh huh. I wanted to put my white sheet over my head and scare you like a ghost.
A Holistic Journey 
Funny conversations,really kids have tons of questions and many of them we find no answers to !
Uh…YAH! I just had no words for some of the ques!
Keep recording!!!! Such precious moments betweem Mother and Child. Tennyson will treasure these conversations for years to come!!!!!! D– I love love love that you are writing 🙂
XOXO
Been thinking of you. If you want to, my reply to O Man below updates you a bit.
Hope you’re less of a hot mess than I am.
Xxx
Great questions HW. He is, no doubt, a crackerjack. Ha! May the force be with you.
LOL touché.
The force seems strong in the boy.
Fun stuff Diana. The “boy” is keeping you busy. Is this your transition to Mommy blogging? XD
Ha ha no. I wouldn’t switch over like that. And that is most dear (and patient) of you to tap in (again I say) on a post that isn’t directly relevant. I’ve been meaning to post this for a while. And one reason I’ve been quiet is the new series in the works. *Grin* The guest writers have been waiting most patiently.
I wouldn’t turn this into a mommy blog — just for you, Brad. =)
Thank goodness! Actually I’m not a fan of mommy blogs, but they are amazingly popular. XD
From the miniseries on successful blogging you had inspired:
“It is unthinkable that I almost closed shop in the early days. I was torn between the helpless writing and the uncertainty of blogging. ‘Who the hec wants to hear another mom blogger?’ I grumbled at my husband.”
=)
I’m not raggin’ on mom blogs. It’s just not how I’ve shaped my work.
I am sure your readers are glad you are writing again. 🙂
*Big smile* I told a wonderful reader today that she had NO idea what a difficult week I’ve had — and then realized WAIT. It’s only Tues. OMG. (She got a kick outa that, commiserating.) Am still knee-deep in dog doo-doo and you know, buddy, I actually smiled seeing your like in the inbox. I’m one hot mess in town and you don’t know I’m getting a little emotional seeing y’all here and enjoying this. Ok. Hopefully I sleep tonight. Laters.
Sleep well and wake. 🙂
Right. We can wake only if we’ve slept….as you well know.
No I wouldn’t lately. I don’t sleep right now. =\
Hey, you stand virtually peerless in the blogging world (yeah yeah I know of the other power bloggers but whatever. Thinking of the masses). But I bet I rival you in this area HA. THERE!
(A KoreAn thing??!)
Must be lol.
Oh do tell!! such precious moments! By the time he is 7 or 8 at that latest, you may feel like I did…not smart enough…those teachers keep outsmarting me! Keep sharing, it brings back such lovely memories.
So sweet. He’s seven, going on strong. I’m coming up short on the answers. Thx for sharing in these moments, O.
Love,
Me
…at least the dog didn’t eat his homework {grins}
lol Will never happen bc I hate dogs (ah—-about to lose followers)!
O.. O…..Oliana….you there? Hello?
lol
Night night.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
it is a world big enough for all tastes…night night
What color IS make believe? That’s classic.
Not classic. Original!! A great post idea, actually, esp for the fiction writers.
Kids are precious. Heard over the back fence last week from a toddler. “Grandpa, what O”Clock is it?”
Love it LOL!! Hope you’re recording ’em, too!
When T asks you “how far is up?” Please tell me your answer. A kid’s ponderings are so many and varied. And I agree with utahrob: What colour is make believe? That’s a classic for sure.
*Big smile* Ah, challenging homework, Maureen:
When T asks you “how far is up?” Please tell me your answer.
I’d love an answer on the color….
Anyone?
“What color is make-bleieve?” My answer would be: any color you’d like to be.
That was mine. =) I said, “Any color you make believe.” But he asked again a few more times so he was really trying to wrap his head around the interesting question his head had come up with!
I guess he couldn’t really grasp yet how to make believe something that is not really tangible or doable since color is something you see, he he….Well, not sure if I’m making sense, but I’m making believe I am ha ha haaa!!!!
lol
Tip for the day: you can make believe whatever the hec you want. Esp when you wanna sound smart.
lol!
Good tip! 😉
This sounds familiar. Where do they come up with all these questions? Every generation, it is the same thing!
Amazing. Mighta skipped my generation. Or me. I don’t remember being so imaginative or curious.
The beautiful brilliance of a conversation with your son, a mind that is constantly learning and exploring… 🙂 You must fall asleep with a smile on your face even though feeling exhausted both physically and mentally from solving all these mysteries of the world!
The color question is funny ~ I once told my parents that I had seen a color that was not in the color spectrum…so how could I describe it. They laugh and asked me to describe the feeling when I sawy it…and while I can’t remember what my reply was it lead to me asking questions about the color of feelings 🙂
“a mind that is constantly learning and exploring.”
you…solving all these mysteries of the world! ”
I can’t keep up with the promise to “look it up” when I don’t know. He’s shooting them out faster than I can handle. He’ll have to solve them himself.
I love your own wonderings on color. You bring me back to poetry. =) I used to have my students – in both public and private settings – mix sensory details (across categories), and so would ask them to ponder/describe the texture of pain or the color of a feeling. I am not surprised something so wonderful and out-of-the-box came from you, R.
That is good to have him solve such dilemmas for himself, although you’ve got many, many more years of questions to look forward too 🙂
And you sound like you have really neat, thoughtful parents. =)
Great parents, and as I grow older I just keep on appreciating them more every day. Thank you for this comment ~ made me smile and think of them! Cheers!
Thought of you in the follow-up post. You’d immediately see why. =)
🙂 That is such an incredible poem and post. Your words flow like the mind of a child. Truly brilliant ~ enjoy the feeling while you can!
I liked it as echoes of my home too…there’s so etching lil joy in these silly lil things amidst all the chaos
Yep. =) Glad you heard your own boy here.
Oh, such life! I wanted to scare you like a ghost…my daughter once tried to shoot electricity out of her finger tips at a similar age. She said she was from Star Wars. When nothing happened, no power at all, she was absolutely furious!! We grow up, grow too serious, and children teach us to laugh at ourselves again. Such a lovely post which has brought back wonderful memories.
Glad we helped you revisit your own treasury of delights. Furious? lol Interesting, actually. Sad, disappointed understandable. But angry, huh? She felt helpless.
I have no kids but the questions are awesome -and I could ask a few of them!
HA ha. Thanks for reading, Nicholas.
Oh, I better do my research to have more answers ready for such things. Sometimes, there are things that are hard to explain to kids. Like the other day, I was talking to my BF’s kid who’s mom left when he was maybe around or a little past a year old. He calls me “Mama Ge.” I had this conversation with him so he won’t be that confused when he grows older.
ME: Who’s your mother?
HIM (points at me): Mama Ge!
ME: Me??? Who gave birth to you?
HIM (points at me): Mama Ge!
ME: But I have never gotten pregnant. You couldn’t have come from me. Who’s (name of the woman) then?
HIM (scratches head for a while then with an unsure expression, points at me): You!
ME: No, I’m not. That’s not my name. I’m Gi. Then who’s your brother’s mom then???
HIM: (gives mom’s name)
ME: See? You have the same mother so I can’t be yours.
HIM (more confused): …?
I thought I’d reserve a repeat of the conversation some other time when he’s older.
Yeah, sounds like you might wait ’til he’s ready. Maybe he also doesn’t quite wANt or need to understand yet. =) They will come of age where they’ll insist on processing it. What he needs foremost now is your love, which he more than has. Very sweet of you to try and explain.
There really are things small children do not need or want to know. Why smash his innocent world by giving him such information at his age?
My sweet little Indian son wanted to believe he grew in my stomach, and we let him believe that until it was obvious he should know to keep from being mocked when he told people that. I was his “real” mother, but some other lady gave birth to him. Once when I was trying to help him settle in for a nap, he reached over and put his arm around me. I asked him if he loved me and he said with absolute confidence, “Yeh, I just wish you were brown though.”
Isn’t that a check mark on his score card? He wished I were brown, not the other way around. He knew who he was and was not unhappy at all about it. When he was about four, my husband took him to Charleston, and the long drive there and back they talked about my being his real mother and the other lady being his birth mother. It worked and he still loves me very much.
Oh wow. Chills. How profound – wonderful – that he wished YOU were brown. Well, also because the world revolves around them. Real mother vs birth mother. Love it.
Thanks for sharing, Beth 🙂
I’m not smashing his innocent world, though, but other people are, because sometimes adults can be so careless and unintentionally cruel. They’re the ones who keep telling him that, even teasing, so I am trying to un-confuse him, if there is such a word, and teach him not to hate her because currently, people have unintentionally but unapologetically taught him and his brother to hate her.
There is a back story to this that would be too much to share, but I am afraid that this back story is only going to cause them to grow up sad and insecure. I want him/them to know that it doesn’t matter whether he’s/they’re from me or not because, like you, I am going to be their real mother.
I remember an article by one person following the blog who wrote “Prisoner’s Daughter.” She had a really messed up dad, but she still stayed in touch with him and did all she could to help him. You may remember that post. Anyway, someone was wise enough to help her stay in touch with her father and not hate him. Maybe these boys can stay in touch with their biological mother and not have regrets later in life.
Yes, that is something that I would like to happen, but currently, that is not possible because things are so complicated right now and even I would be wary of her intentions (long story). She does need to get her act together.
I may have come across the article you mentioned, BTW 🙂
Conversations with kids cover so much territory and don’t have to be logical in their flow. That is the delight of sitting down and talking with our young kids! Some of my family favorite comments are: My oldest son started a conversation about the reality of Santa with, “I have to ask you a question, but I’m not sure I want to know the answer.” Another time, my son wanted to talk about his favorite hobby- again. My enthusiasm wasn’t as great this time around, so he told me, “Just pretend to listen and say hmmm and yeah.” Thanks for sharing and bringing back some funny memories of my own!
lol
Wow, he was just a little man – grown before his age.
“I have to ask you a question, but I’m not sure I want to know the answer.” There you go. He was ready to join us in life.
“What color is make believe?”
I loved that so much that I wrote it on a piece of paper and put it on my bulletin board. Wonderful and fun post, D!
Ha ha ha.
*solemn face*
Be sure to give proper attribution: Tennyson H.
lol
Thx for letting me know, M.
Kids grow up and you forget about all these wonderful questions. Because, you know, once they grow up, they know everything…**eye roll** I loved this.
lol R-i-i-ght. *eye roll*
This reminds me of a period of my toddler life when I was terrified with the concept of death so I kept telling my mom I didn’t want to die and she said we won’t. 🙂
Huh. Did you believe her?
I mean I knew of course that it wasn’t true but when she said that, it made me feel better.
Mmm….the power of assurance that somehow things will be ok.
I remember those odd, strange, conversations, children are interesting.
Ha ha. I’m sure L threw out some sharp questions. Hope your trip was wonderful, S. And I hope you got to visit the reblog of your guest post I forwarded you and say hi to the host.
Xx
Love it. Last time we were talking about the trials of parenthood. This is part of the joy. One of the things that really struck me on becoming a parent was how much each child has to learn. There’s so much out there to know. The process is amazing to me.
You’re right, J. The world is a sea of wonder we manage to lose sight of as we grow older.
Love,
D.
Keep in mind that some kids are smart enough to push buttons. They know what gets you going and so they play the part to keep you on the strings like a puppet. I may be mistaken, but your boy seems to have your number. LOL
You aRe mistaken on this one lol lol. We hear all the time what a sweet boy he is. He’s a little spacy/dreamy and clueless, too. 😛 I see so many kids his age who’re more tuned in at times. I think he must hear a lot in his own head. Like his mom. =)
That’s OK as long as his drummer is going the right direction. 😉
Who was it that said, the ones who can dream in the daytime are more imaginative than those who only dream at night? Take heard mom. This will all turn out OK.
Nice quote. =) T’s awesome. Except for the days in the month I hate everybody. ^^
WHY don’t I learn to proof before I push the buttons? Take *heart* mom. This will all turn out OK.
The questions can be fascinating. Some people complain about them (I do sympathise… it goes on…) but I don’t mind them. The weird ones are some of the best.
300% is all of it plus all of it plus all of it. 🙂
LOL!! I was hoping you’d help me with that one!!
I said to myself when I got to that part in the posting *Bronwyn? Help?*
I’ll try it.
Though I’m sure he’ll volley back a question on the answer!!
I’m sure he will. Nothing less than what I’d expect from a bright young enquiring mind!
Your boy is so adorable. I wanna have a baby now 🙂
LOL
Aww…honey, you are just so with-it AND beautiful I am sure your frog will show in time. (In the real world, they start off as princes and turn into frogs once they see they’ve got you.)
“In the real world, they start off as princes and turn into frogs once they see they’ve got you.”
*giggles* They sure do.
Oh, children are just so precious.
Indeed. =)
🙂
Love the kids conversation. Like my son about that age crashed through a glass door thinking he — superman — could just go right through it. In fact, I remember as a kid myself very clearly seeing a lovely blue fairy come through the wall. Great sfuff here. Thanks
Ha ha ha poor, awesome, brave boy. Precious story. Thanks, Mona.
So sweet and so dear memories… Don’t miss any! 🙂
Ha, love it! I’ll try to get that color answer for you. Yesterday we were walking and the boy told me about all the exercising he’s been doing. He said it’s to get stronger so he can hit people harder when he becomes a boxer. I told him he probably shouldn’t be a boxer. He replied, ‘Well I need to make money somehow! What else will my job be?!?!”
Uh — why does he feel he has no other skill to base his future on? lol And yep, I guess that trumps the answers I offered: gray and glitter settle it.
Ha, well a couple months ago he said he was going to be a spy when he grows up…it keeps changing.
Ha, I hope yours was satisfied by the gray and glitter answers!
Wonderful how our children’s questions give us an insight into the way their minds work and how we all learn
You’re right, Marie. You just made me appreciate again how I have access. There are many parents who don’t, for different physical challenges their children have. Thx for the read, as always. =)
Xx
D.
Such sweet and amazing questions – I particularly love ‘what colour is make-believe?’
“I particularly love ‘what colour is make-believe?’” Hence the next post. =)
Aha, yes, working through posts in date order 🙂
=)
Mom, I ate my homework. 😀 😀 😀
Well, let’s just hope it nourished your brain!
lol
It is so nice to have a record of these encounters. After so many years, I have forgotten many like instance in our family.
You’ll get another chance with the grandkids. =)
What joy! I love this; it brings back happy memories for me of times with my sons when they were small. Thank you!
=) Sweet.
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“How many suns fit inside him?” A wonderful question!
Not sure but he’s able to hold them all in. =) Thx.