8th Layer Archive

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November 10, 2001

Children

Sometimes they just absolutely drive you nuts. Like when they echo the last word of your every sentence and make it a question...

Lori: Today we're going to go to the movies.
Spencer: Movies?

Okay...you all of a sudden don't know what a movie is? What gives? Hopefully it's a phase that will pass soon. The "literal" phase seems to almost be over. You know - where they take *everything* you say literally. It really ruins a joke. Luckily, Spencer has inherited the comedy bone from his mom. Between that and cartoons, he quickly moved out of that phase. It wasn't a funny phase. He didn't like for everyone else to be laughing and he didn't get it. So he learned quickly to "get it." Ah...the power of our own inner motivations.

So that's the phase he's in now (question echoes). Sometimes I can't wait for him to grow a bit older so he understands some things better. So while I'm thinking this, I realize it's time for school. We homeschool and I'm currently the teacher. I recently brought home some Fresca - which has a grapefruit taste. I was quite surprised...he liked it. When I mentioned that it tasted like grapefruit... Grapefruit? Okay, so he doesn't know what a grapefruit is - I don't ever remember having any around the house. I went to the store (earlier) for a few things and picked up a grapefruit. We were going to have the great grapefruit lesson this evening.

I showed him what it was. We compared the size to an orange. We looked at the color. I cut it open. We talked about pink grapefruit and white grapefruit. He smelled it. He licked it. He squealed with glee. I showed him how it's served in restaurants - in half with a spoon. I showed him why on Ed, Edd and Eddy they joked about the way it squirts. We talked about grapefruit juice. We talked about Florida and grapefruit. We talked about how some people use grapefruit to help them diet. He licked the grapefruit a little more. He scooped out some juice with the spoon. I got a glass of water. He experimented. He found that if he has a mouthful of grapefruit juice and adds water, the grapefruit taste is lessened. He found that if you swallow a mouthful of grapefruit juice and *then* drink water, you'll taste it again. He licked it again. He squealed with glee again. It was a Kodak moment.

That moment that we had at the kitchen table will probably follow him for the rest of his life. He may not remember the details, but he'll probably remember that I introduced him to grapefruit. In his life, I'll be in this grapefruit story. And it was so wonderful and joyous to watch him experience, learn and know something new. I met him when he was 5. I missed his first steps. I missed the first time he experienced this and that. But I didn't miss the grapefruit. And all of a sudden I'm really glad he's not older. Older?

Posted by BlueWolf on November 10, 2001 03:33 PM