Today we touched on the tricky topic of religion. I went with the Christian genesis story…

Ro <his ear on my chest>: I can hear your heart!

me: yes, it’s pounding.

Ro: do fish have hearts?

me: yes, every animal has a heart. <vast simplification :)>

Ro: who made the hearts?

me <after a pause>: God did. He’s the creator! <crinch>

Ro: God!?

me: yes, God created all living beings – all animals and all plants…

Ro: All!?

me: yes

Ro: even me?

me: yes, even you – and me!

Ro: he made grass?

me: yes, he made the grass.

Ro: he was here one day?

me: yes, he *is* here.

Ro <shocked and in disbelief>: Here?

me: yes.

Ro<turning around>: where *is* he?

me: we can’t see him.

Ro: is he made of glass?

<genious!>

me: no, he’s not made of glass. God is in everything he created.

Ro<confused, long pause>: is he a man?

me: nope!

Ro: is he made of gold?

me<the bible has clearly something to say about that>: No, he’s *not* made of gold! And we’re not making things of gold that would look like him either!

Ro <again>: he came here?

me: yes, and he *is* here. Don’t worry he loves you!

Ro: I didn’t see him.

me: but you can hear my heart, don’t you? He made it beat.

Ro <with his head on my chest again>: ahh, yes I hear it. <pounding on my chest with a big smile>: Hi, God!

<after some more listening to my heart he looks around in the room>:

Ro: did he make the door?

me: no, men made door. But he made the sky. And the earth. And “everything living under the sky”. <proud of the quote>

Ro: did he go up in the sky with a balloon when he made it?

me: God didn’t need a balloon to make the sky. He just made it. He can go places by thinking.

Ro: did he come down after?

me: yes, he came back after he made the sky and made all the animals and plants

Ro: that’s a lot!

me: yep!

Ro: he must be tired.

me: yes, he was very tired after he made all the animals. So he took a break on Sunday.

Ro: he didn’t make anything on Sunday?

me: nope. he just slept.

Ro: I’m hungry!

…. THE END.

Ro wants to be older and bigger so badly. This morning he tried to put on a shirt that was way too big for him – it was hanging all the way down to his knees – quite cute actually.

Ro <complaining in a whining voice>: This shirt is too big.

Me: That’s all right you can wear it when you’re bigger.

Ro <pouty>: I *want* to be bigger!!!!

Me <jumping on the chance to push my own agenda>: You can grow bigger by eating twice the amount at lunch and dinner, can you do that?

Ro: I WILL! – When will I be big daddy?

Me: You’ll be big, when you’re grown up.

Ro: Will I be grown up when I’m four?

Me <in the forgiving teacher voice>: yes, you will be grown up soon! <adding with a blink to MrsM> But mommy says some people never grow up!

Ro <looking shocked>: But *I* will!

Me: Yes, you will. Daddy hopefully, too.

Ro learning to read letters:

Mommy: What’s this word, Ro? – <she’s pointing at the word ‘Yellow’>

Ro: … Y

Ro: … E

Ro: Pause!

Mommy: !?

Ro: Pause!

Mommy, Ah, that’s funny Ro! ‘ll’ looks like the pause sign of your movies, but it’s two L!

Ro: Ah! … L … L

Ro: …O … W!

Ro got an action figure from the Toy Story Movie for XMas. He loves to press all the buttons. When he pressed the blue  button on the character the first time it says: “My name is Buzz Lighyear, I’m a space ranger. I come in peace!”

Ro: Green Pees!?

Ro wanted to ride his little red trike around the block in the evening last night. It was cold and he needed to dress up to go outside. So I asked him:

me: What do you need to do to go outside?

Ro: Jacket!

me: Right, what else?

Ro: Socks and shoes!

me: Right, what else?

Ro: Brush my teeth!

me: <huh?>

Ro: There are flies outside, and when my mouth is open my teeth get dirty!!

This is a somewhat unsatisfying post, as to it doesn’t have a conclusion, because Ro continued to struggle with the past time concept.

Ro <pointing to Kuttu’s eye>: Daddy, how did Kuttu get this bubu?

Me: Charlie bit him, because Kuttu made a bad choice – he stole Charlie’s food.

Ro: Biting is bad. Did Charlie get a timeout?

Me: Yes, he did. We don’t bite .We use our words, or bark.

Ro: Was Charlie having his timeout there? <pointing to the wall where Ro usually gets his timeouts>

At this point I had to get creative, because this whole incident happened in our previous house, where Ro has never been because he wasn’t born yet. So I moved the story to our house…

Me: No, Charlie had his time out in the breakfast area.

Ro: At the green wall?

Me: No, the wall was white. We had not painted it yet.

<Ooops, I should have left out that detail.>

Ro: White? Why is the wall green now?

Me: Because mommy likes colors. She made it green.

<Phew, dodged that detail.>

Ro: Was Charlie good in his time-out?

Me: Yes, he was very good.

Ro: Was he three?

Me: No he was five and Kuttu was three.

Ro: Was I three?

Me: No you weren’t born yet.

Ro: <blank stare>

Me: … you weren’t here yet. Not even in mommy’s belly.

Ro: was I zero?

Me: <Impressed> yes, you weren’t here yet, like zero, nil, zilch.

Ro: No, I mean not one, – zero

Me: Ahhh! – No, you weren’t born yet, not just younger than one. You weren’t    c o n c e i v e d. <big smile on my face>

Ro: < blank stare>

Me: Never mind. Charlie was good in his time out. Do you want to play with the silver car?

Ro: Yes, the silver car is my *favorite*!

From there we left the time before he was born alone…

This morning there was thick fog while driving to day care.

Me: Ro, can you see all the white fog around us?

Ro: Yes, we’re flying in a cloud!

Note his use of the word “flying” while moving in a car, since that’s where he’s seen this phenomenon before.

About a month ago, when we were driving to day care in the morning, I had forgotten to pack Ro’s beloved Pluto stuffed toy. Pluto is his special toy and goes everywhere with him. Thinking of it, he’s probably the most traveled stuffed toy on the planet with multiple trips to India, Germany and around the US :).

So I had to come up with a strategy to explain, why it’s OK to drive without Pluto that day, so I didn’t have to turn around. I noticed that U2’s “With or without You” song was playing on the radio, so I explained that sometimes you can do things (here: going to day care) with or without someone (read: Pluto). After explaining this a couple of times to him, Ro was happy and was humming along with the tune – problem solved.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, when we were driving again to day care -without Pluto.

Ro: Daddy, can we listen to the Pluto song?

It took me a moment to decipher his logic, but then remembered and played U2 on the radio for him. That made him smile.

Paati: Ro, when I went to do groceries, I saw the strawberries and I was thinking of you that you would like them.

Ro: You were thinking of yumm-meee!!!

Ro: Daddy, can I drive the white car when I’m 55?

me: <thinking hard> Yes, Ro, you can even drive it when you’re 16!

Ro: Dad, I’ll drive it when I’m 16 and then stop the numbers.

me: <after I get that stopping the numbers means not aging any more>: Ro, you can drive the white car anytime you’re older than 16 – like 17, 18, 19, 20, and so on.

Ro: OK, but I want to be 16!

This sort of reminded me of a German joke about a nerdy engineer that goes like this (be warned, German humor is different):

Engineer: Daddy, can I have some vanilla ice cream?

Dad: Roland, you’re 40 years old and an electrical engineer. You can have any ice cream you like: chocolate, strawberry, pistacio, vanilla,…

Engineer: Well, then I don’t want to.

In case you’re still wondering: yes the joke is over.