Thursday, April 14, 2011

When Elaine wants a treat, she spells out random combinations of letters, hoping to stumble upon a magic password like "C-A-K-E", "P-I-E", or "I-C-E C-R-E-A-M." Sometimes, the combinations of letters she chooses are interesting... Today, in all seriousness, she sweetly asked me for a "P-H-D" and has followed up by stomping about the house declaring, "I want a P-H-D! I want a P-H-D!"

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

My three-year-old has discovered the concept of infinity. And strenuously objects to it.

The conversation started with her asking me, "How many numbers are there?" I told her there were infinitely many and began trying to explain that idea. She looked at me like I was a complete idiot who clearly hadn't understood her question. So, she started counting, and, as usual, needed my help after the number fourteen. When we got to twenty-seven, she declared, "That's it. That's all the numbers!"

I told her about twenty-eight.

She tried her assertion again: "THAT's all the numbers!"

We went on like this for a while. (Though, my counting sped up.) When we got up above one-hundred, she started giggling. When we got to two-hundred, she declared, "That's too many numbers! We only need a little bit of numbers!"

So, there you have it. Infinity has been put on official notice. When Elaine takes over the universe, we're scrapping it for a mathematics that's capped at twenty-seven.