Friday, March 04, 2005

Earf and the Grim Reefer

The Boy’s latest obsession is the planets. Mercury, Venus, Earf… It’s great fun to hear him wrestle with the English language. He has his letters now, and he frequently asks how particular words are spelled. You forget how many un-phonetic words there are until a three-year-old starts pop quizzing you on them.

We got him some books about the solar system, which became immediate favorites. One of them mentioned Neil Armstrong walking on the moon; The Boy didn’t believe it! When I assured him it was true, he asked “why?” I wasn’t sure how to answer that.

This morning he announced, pitch-perfect and apropos of nothing, “I’ve been tossing and turning on an old mattress.” It’s almost unnerving.

One of his favorite cartoons is “Billy and Mandy,” which features the Grim Reaper as a character (don’t ask). Yesterday he referred to the Reaper as the Reefer. The Grim Reefer. I would have corrected him, but it was actually an improvement.