A different kind of math...

Going about the day with a four year old who makes demands from sun-up to sun-down can be tiresome at the best of times...but when my four year old aspiring paleontologist announces that "the dinosaurs went exstinky at the end of the flirtatious period" I remember that I have the best job in the world as a SAHM.  Being able to hear his hilarious remarks and jot them down to recall (or use as blackmail) in the years ahead becomes my mission - I imagine that I will enjoy reminiscing about the age of innocence when his adolescent feet are the only things I wish were "exstinky" and he's entered the real life "flirtatious period".  It is my quest to record as much cuteness as I can.  I may need to draw heavily upon these memories through the teen years, smile. 

On our way to a playdate today, Sim was being Sim, asking me a million questions about a million things on his little mind:  Do alien starships only fly at night?  Are there any purple cars on this planet?  Do monsters get the hiccups?  (and the one that really stumped me) What is L and L? 

I turned the bend off the highway onto the gravel road and Sim began raising his voice in urgent persistance, "What is L AND L?"  I half heartedly, with most of my concentration on driving on the loose gravol replied "I don't know what you mean, Sim."  He knew what he meant.  He was downright frustrated that I didn't have an answer for him.  "YOU KNOW MOM, L plus L!"  It took me a moment and then I finally realized that he wanted to know what the sum would be.  This put a stick in my wheels of thought and my adult brain reaction was "How absurd to think that way!" and then my creative brain took over and I had a wonderful angle to ponder...how marvelous to imagine that you could add up letters as well as numbers..."Why not!"

Sim was still waiting a response (we call him Mr. Persistant around here) and so while I was tempted to say "24" (with L being the 12th letter of the alphabet), I proceeded to tell him that we cannot add up letters, only numbers.  We know enough about his personality to know that if we start something, even a train of thinking, he will surely go down that road and I will be left adding up all the letters of the alphabet for weeks to come and kicking myself wondering why I entertained him in that area.  Lucky for me, he was content with the reply and began to ramble off math facts that he has been memorizing: "2 plus 2 is four!  4 plus 4 is eight!"  And I witnessed a real shift in my day.  I was reminded what it felt like to be his age, to wonder about things and not have any reason to believe that you couldn't do certain things.  What if you could add up L and L?  In that moment, my heart silently worked out another sum:  L+L= Lots of Love for my little guy and his wonderous mind :)