Imagination Articulation

Language acquisition is so much fun, and listening to Silas is a window into the process.

The other day, when he told me he was going to "broom" with the broom, I realized we shovel with shovels, rake with rakes, vacuum with vacuums, but -- inexplicably -- we do not broom with brooms.

At the zoo last week, Silas got a chance to touch an otter pelt and a porcupine quill. The otter pelt was soft, and the zoo volunteer explained why the porcupine quill was sharp. Much later, when we saw a live river otter in its pen, Silas asked me, "Do otters not have porcs?" It took me a moment to figure out what he was talking about.

A.A. Milne's Pooh books and poetry have given Silas some British syntax and expression. For example, "I suppose," is a favorite introductory phrase when an air of detachment is in order.

Last week Silas wanted to see the garbage truck come to pick up the trash before we got in the car to go to school. We waited for about ten minutes with no luck before it was time to go. As we were getting into the car he told me, Pooh-like, "I thought for a moment I would watch the garbage truck, and then I said," (even more casually), "'Oh well, I'll not watch it today.'"

Similarly, during a recent wrestling session on the floor, Silas asked me to lift him up "high high in the air" on the bottoms of my feet. When I paused for a moment to decide whether I was prepared to do this for the sixth time in a row, he asked, "Have you the strength?" I told him I had.

(Another favorite Dad question Silas asks me occasionally is, "Can I use you like a stool?" You have to love the honesty of a three-year-old.)

And then there are Batman, Spiderman, and Hulk. Silas has learned from several different places that these characters are important in some way, but the details remain murky. Some weeks ago, he asked me what Spiderman did, and I said he helps people. Then, a few weeks later, he asked me who Spiderman helps. I said anyone who needs help, like someone who needs to change the tires on their car, or someone who needs to fix dinner, etc. That was a satisfactory explanation.

However, when he asked me recently where Batman lives, and I told him I thought Batman lived in a cave, that was no good. He promptly informed me that Batman had moved out of his cave because it was too dark, and moved into an apartment with Spiderman. The other night, he told Rachel and I at dinner that Hulk, Batman and Spiderman were cooking dinner together at their apartment (I think Hulk's place is next door). He wanted to talk to Batman on the phone, but couldn't because the Caped Crusader had gone out to get the wine. Add to this the fact that -- as Silas later informed Rachel -- Batman and Spiderman's apartment is in South America, and you start to wonder whether Stan Lee has been telling us the whole truth about these men and their costumed alter-egos.

Finally, two things Silas has recently told me we should NOT do to Margaret:

1. We should not put Margaret in the trash for the garbage men to take to the dump.

2. We should not put Margaret in the diaper bag and give her to the mail lady.

Margaret is lucky to have such a conscientious guardian.