From the Mouth of a Child

When she was much smaller, Poet really loved her board books, particularly the "peek-a-boo" type. Problem was, she was very hard on them, and would tear off the flaps. Amy solved the problem the same way that any good red-blooded American would: she used duct tape. When Happy got old enough for the "peek-a-boo" board books, he was similarly hard on the flaps. One evening, probably seven or eight months ago, Amy was fixing a book when Poet wandered in. The exchange went something like this:

"Whatcha doing, Mommy?"
"Fixing Happy's book"
"Ooooh...." <long pause> "What's that?" <pointing to the roll of tape>
"Tape"
"Ooooh...."

Little did we know how much of an impact that conversation would have on her.

Back in March, we went to one of our favorite local parks. It's got a pair of baby swings, which the kids love, a pair of big swings, to which Poet is transitioning, and a twin slide, down which the kids race. When we got to the big swings, we saw that someone had wrapped the chains all around the crossbar and the seats were all cattywampus, so we couldn't use them that day.

"What happened?" Poet wanted to know.
"They're broke, Poet."
"Ooooh, broke. Fix it?"
"Well, I can't but someone will soon."
"Ooooh. With tape?"
<boggle/> "Sure, Poet, with tape."
"OK!"

A week or so passed by before we returned to the park again, and the swings had been fixed, a fact which hadn't escaped Poet's notice.

"THEY FIXED IT!"
"Why yes, Poet, they did!"
"WITH TAPE!"
"Yes, Poet, with tape."

Now every time we go to the park, Poet points out to us that they fixed the swings. With tape.

She's so adorable... :)