Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Mouths of Babes




In church today, Beck was playing with a tube of little plastic marine animals. He likes to dump them all out on the pew, then put them back in, one at a time, naming each one. Sea staw. Shawk. Sting way. Dafin. Hammahead. Occasionally he gets to one that he can't remember. On this occasion, he looked trustingly up at Big Daddy, waiting for a hint. "Humpback whale," Big Daddy told him as Beck dropped a sperm whale into the tube. "That's not a Humpback," I whispered over Beck's head. Big Daddy shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes as if to say, "Drop it, Cousteau." Tootle. Shamu whale. Eel. He stopped again and looked up at Big Daddy with an actual humpback whale in his hand. "Humpback whale," Big Daddy told him. Beck paused for a moment with a mix of confusion and determination on his face. He fished the other whale out of the tube and held it up next to the new whale. "That not humpback. THIS humpback," he said. Well put, Beck. As Big Daddy's eyes met mine over Beck's head, I looked back at him with a look that said, "Just call me Jacques."

8 comments:

tiburon said...

You went to church on Tuesday?

Omgirl said...

Yes. I'm Catholic. We go to church whenever we want.

veronica said...

I love it when someone else drives home the fact that I am always right. Saves me the trouble. Good call, Jacques.

Jen said...

I love that! Too funny

Anonymous said...

Maybe he just didn't want to say 'sperm' in church.

Financial Aid for College said...

Good shot, Andre!

mCat said...

Can I come to your ward and sit behind you guys just for the entertainment value?

Mia said...

I love being right too!