From the Mouths of Babes

On a Sunday in March two years ago, when The Boy was just two and a half, he and I spent an afternoon together, just the two of us, while The Boy's Mother went to her office to get caught up on work.

We headed first to the Capital Children's Museum that used to be on 3rd street north east. When we got there, The Boy wanted to head first to the Japanese bullet train exhibit. He was excited just to sit in the train seat and watch the video of the bullet train. He pointed excitedly at each train that passed across the screen. From the bullet train exhibit we hit the Metro bus, the fire engine, and then the bubble exhibit.

After we'd hit the highlights of the Children's Museum, we stopped at Union Station to get a snack of french fries from McDonald's. The Boy was very insistent that I share his french fries with him. If my hand was empty he would offer me a fry and say "I share." Sometimes he would eat just one half of a french fry, and then offer me the other half. We were having a pleasant chat when I asked The Boy where he got all of his nice qualities from. "From Mommy," he replied.

We headed from there to The Boy's Mother's office. She took a break when we arrived to get something to eat. While we were sitting and talking, I thougth I would impress her by asking The Boy again, "where did you get all of your nice qualities from?"

The Boy looked straight at me and said to my surprise, "from you."

That wasn't the answer I was expecting, and while The Boy's Mother said that was sweet she hadn't been impressed the way I had hoped. I looked at him again and asked this time, "what did you get from Mommy?"

"I stubborn."