Toddler Wisdom

I just finished my first course towards a graduate degree in toddler natural sciences.  Today's class was about dinosaurs.  It went something like this:

Professor (C): Did you know that dinosaurs are extinct?

Student (me): No, what does that mean?

Professor : They walked around a volcano, died, lost their bones, and their bones are in the ground.

Student: I didn't know that.

Professor: Now they live in the museum.

Student (me): Did you know that some dinosaurs ate vegetables & trees & others ate dinosaurs?

Professor (C): Which ones?

Student: T-Rex, Allosaurus, & Velociraptor.

Professor: No they didn't. They just eat blood.

Student: Really?

Professor:  Some eat both.

Student: Really? Which ones?

Professor: Some eat both plants AND bushes - like a brachiosaurus.

Charm School:  there is a "new friend" in Carter's class.  Since he was recently the new kid, we are encouraging him to help the new student with her transition.  In asking about this new friend, this was the info we got:

Me: Who is the new friend's name?

C: I don't know.

Me: Is it a boy or girl?

C: I think it is a girl.

Me: What's her name?

C: I don't know.

Me: What color hair does she have?

C: Brown.

Me: Is it straight or curly?

C: It is messy all over.

So apparently he isn't a Ph.D. is charm yet. 

I will tell you that disagreeing or correcting Professor C is futile.  It is worse than arguing with his mother. Because she uses logic/reason, and if she is wrong, she will at least change the subject.  Professor C doesn't see the value in logic or reason.  He will just tell you are wrong regardless of what evidence you can present to defend your argument.  Maybe the differences between Mother and Son aren't so significant after all. 

At any rate my best strategy is to "agree to disagree".

Owen News:  Not to leave him out... O is coming into a whole new world of communication.  He is using more words: Please, Thank You, No, Bye, Hi, Brother, Milk, Water, More, Banana, Nutella, Mommy, Daddy, Brother, Baseball, Bus, & Truck, so... most of the basics.  But he is a much better poker player than talker.  Frequently we will present things like a spoon or plate, identify it, and ask him to repeat it.  This is successful about 30% of the time.  

Tonight after dinner, I asked him about certain objects sitting nearby. "Where is the ravioli, fork, meatball, carrots, cup, plate, dinosaur, snowflake, bird, corn, camera" - pretty much EVERYTHING IN THE ROOM.  He pointed at each one with complete confidence.  So apparently he is content learning what things are, but verbalizing it isn't something of interest at this time. 

Which is fine because the prospect of two of them telling me I'm wrong might be too much.

Thanks for reading...