Connections

Emry’s at the age where learning something new is a daily thing. Those things can be anything from recognizing a diamond to successfully counting to twelve to some corny song that pops into Mama or Papa’s heads and then out of their mouths. As she learns more, she starts connecting one lesson with another. Sometimes these connections and her logic are hilarious.

While we were at my parents, Ed had Emry and her cousin Jay singing the old Adam West Batman tune while they swung on the swingset. (Probably brought on by Jay’s batman cape.) Well, in the last couple of weeks, she has been fascinated by pictures in a few of her books of Jesus on the cross. Although she doesn’t yet understand the concept of death, we talk about it and I explain to her that Jesus is good and should not have died on the cross. The two men on the other crosses are “bad man” being punished. Every time I said “bad man”, she started singing. I didn’t catch on at first…but then I had to explain that the two thieves were each a “bad man” not “Batman”.

We’re working with her in parking lots and crossing streets to hold on to one of our hands because, as I tell her over and over again, “It’s dangerous. The cars can’t see you.” Last week she put on her swimsuit after her nap and we went out to play in her little pool. It started to rain just a bit. Then we heard thunder off in the distance. She looked up at me, a bit startled. “It’s okay,” I told her. “Its just thunder. It’s a loud noise and can’t hurt you. But if we see lightning, we have to go inside. It’s dangerous.” She nodded her head sagely and replied, “The cars can’t see you.”

When I was a kid, I remember the hardest part of the ABC Song was “L-M-N-O-P”. It runs all together until it sounds like some strange word similar to “Monopoly” but all mixed up. I hated singing that part because I knew I didn’t do it right but I didn’t know how to fix it. Emry avoids this conflict entirely. She skips half the song and simply starts singing at the letter “Q”.

I swear there is something in the water in Pittsburgh. It makes these natives fiercely devoted boomerangs unable to see past the end of their nose. Ed despises all forms of “brainwashing” (media, public education, etc.) but somehow misses the fact that Pittsburgh has brainwashed him. I’m hoping to save my children from this horrific problem and yet… Emry can count to 12 without a beat, picks out at least half her letters and is quite decent with shapes. But colors! Most colors she does not know by name, but there are two she picks out every single time: yellow and black. The Pittsburgh colors. I think I’m doomed.