More Conversations with a five-and-a-half-year old

__ So one time Mommy and Daddy and I were playing charades when Nathan was at his dad's, and Daddy was reading the words to me.  When I was acting out my word, I started doing digging motions and making a dead face, and it turned out that the word was "marry" and I thought it was "bury!"  It was funny but also a little bit embarrassing.

__ I can see how you made that mistake.  They rhyme.  (I didn't make a cynical counter joke about other possible similarities, even though one came to my mind.)

__  Yeah, Nathan always says "You have a lot to learn, Elena!"
 

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We are watching a movie.  Two girls in the movie are surprised that the third never celebrates her birthday.

"Why don't you celebrate your birthday?" they ask her.

"Well, something always goes wrong.  Like one year my dad sat on a bee hive and then there was the molasses incident.  I still feel sticky when I think of it."

___Wait, Elena says, rewinding the movie to that phrase.  "What is a molasses incident?"

I explain that molasses is like syrup and an incident is something that happened, in this case involving spilled syrup.

The brain of a child doesn't skim over words and pretend to know.  When you have a lot to learn, you take advantage of every possible opportunity, even rewinding the movie to be sure you get it right.

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When the glass man comes to install my new windshield, she watches intently.  She wants to know how he gets the sticker back on, she wants to know what he's putting in the crack.  "Some kind of glue," I say, "To seal the glass in."

When he tells us not to drive for an hour, she wants to know why, and I explain that the windshield could be loose until the adhesive sets.

"That would be really embarrassing," she says, "To drive down the road and your new windshield pops right out!"

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After swimming, I tell her that we need to be home by 2:30 when her mom is supposed to arrive.  We stop by Julian's to get some Italian food.

"We're going to be a little late," I said.  "But not much.  Maybe your mom will be a little late."

"Does late mean the next day or the day after that?"