Just when you think your children are so marvelously bright and sophisticated that you cannot possibly keep up with them, they do something odd and you are reminded of their inexperience. They’ve almost got things down, but not quite. For example, my niece and son (4 and 3, respectively) were taking an awfully long time in the bathroom the other day and I went in to check on them. They were actually just sitting next to each other on the floor quite pleased with themselves. After they watched me frantically check the toilet for traces of toys or too much toilet paper, Neil proudly told me “We just put on some of that stuff you wear, Mommy” rubbing his arm from wrist to elbow. Oh no, what stuff? My eyes lighted on some white smudges on the toilet tank going up the cabinet to my deodorant which seemed to have been removed and smashed back in the container. Sigh. I wasn’t about to correct their misconception and just replied with the classic “that’s nice, but please don’t get into Mommy’s things...” I’ll admit my hands were twitching slightly, but that’s not unusual for three o’clock in the afternoon. Teeth gnashing is also fairly run-of-the-mill by that time of day. Deodorant on their arms, lip balm on their cheeks, the kids scampered off to their room to play. At least they smelled good. The other night at the dinner table Neil turned to me and said “Mommy, I want to tell you a secret. Put your ear over here.” His eyes were large and serious as I leaned over to listen obligingly. Neil promptly put his ear up to mine and proceeded to whisper to the back of my neck. After I had soothed his injured ego (mommies evidently aren’t supposed to burst out laughing when you are telling them secrets) by explaining that he was supposed to whisper in my ear not ear to ear, he tickled my ear with a meandering ‘secret’ about the pictures on the kitchen wall. It was one of those moments you tuck away in your heart to save for a rainy day. A 'rainy day' includes times you walk into the room and your son has been ‘helping’ make coffee by scooping at least a cup of sugar into the automatic coffeemaker’s water reservoir... The two-hundred dollar coffeemaker you got as a wedding present.... My hands are twitching just thinking about it. The kitchen smelled like caramel for two days. In addition to emulating adults, children are constantly trying to explain the world around themselves. Often they will be quite happy with the first theory at hand. We were reading a bedtime story a few weeks ago that showed a picture of a pond with cattails. Neil excitedly interrupted me and said 'Mommy! Mommy! That’s where hotdogs come from!' I never thought about it before but cattails do look like a lot like hot dogs on sticks. And imagine how awkward it was explaining that not only were they not hotdogs, but they were a plant called ‘cattails’. And just how was I supposed explain what a hotdog was? My husband left the room snickering, saying ‘it’s all yours’. Quite unfair of him, really. I can’t wait to explain to Neil what an egg is or what mushrooms grow in. Watching my children make sense of and move through the world is fascinating, exhilarating and terrifying all at once. I war with myself wanting to explain everything versus letting them discover things on their own, right or wrong. I want to protect them from hurt, yet I want them to be strong and self-reliant. I often just have to take a deep breath and stand back (OK, several deep breaths and maybe a tranquilizer). I have to remember that in time Neil will know that lip balm is for lips, deodorant is for underarms and cattails are a plant (I’m not sure anyone knows exactly what is in hotdogs). I have to have faith that he will be able to figure these and many other things out and will survive the process. After all, we have. (Twitch).