Thursday, June 25, 2009

You Can Field This One

Jake (my 4-year old): "What are these called again?"
Me: "Slugs. No, wait, I'm sorry. I wasn't really looking. They're grubs."
Jake: "They're cute. They're my pets."
Me: "Your pets? OK."
Jake: "They were under this log. I found them. Look at all the ants. There are so many ants!"
Me: "Huh."
Jake: "Look! Look! They're moving! That one just lifted his face up and you know what?"
Me: "What?"
Jake: "He had ants all over his face!"
Me: "I bet he doesn't like that very much."
Jake: "Why not?"
Me: "You wouldn't like to be covered with ants, would you?"
Jake: "No way!"
Max (my 14 year old) wanders out
Jake: "Max! Max! Come here and look! These are ... what are they called again, Dad?"
Me: "Slugs. I mean grubs."
Jake: "These are my grubs! They're so cute! They're my pets."
Max: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Jake: "And look! His face is covered with ants!"
Max, squatting down to look: "Dad, are those ants eating the grubs alive?"
Me: "Yep. But I wasn't trying to draw too much attention to it. They're his pets, after all."
Max: "That would be horrible. Jake, we should give them a quick death."
Jake: "What's death?"
Me, laughing: "You can field this one, Max."

8 comments:

Melanie Hooyenga said...

Thank you for the violent chills that just raced down my spine.

Jon VanZile said...

Ha ha. And here I was, thinking prolonged death-by-ants was cute ... No, actually, I admit to being kind of macabre.

Erica Orloff said...

Monkey Man:
Demon Baby collects worms as pets. He thinks they are the most beautiful creatures in the world. Then he wants us to put them on Oldest Sister's windshield and watch them "fly" (or splatter). The kid is weird.

E

JLC said...

Ugh. I've had to answer that question already with my munchkin. I think I said something benign like.. "Something is dead when their energy is gone."

Love in Action Feeding Ministry said...
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Love in Action Feeding Ministry said...
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Jon VanZile said...

Erica,

Worms! I have a long history with them myself ...

Jon VanZile said...

Turkey,

Hi! I kinda like that answer. "We're all like light like bulbs, kiddo, and if you eat all your veggies, you get to be a long-lasting fluorescent bulb."