cogito

Then there was the time when, riding along in his carseat, Evan suddenly said, "Um, Rene Descartes was a France philosopher. But what did he philosoph?"

Evan is learning a lot at school

I love it when Evan, unprompted, repeats (or mis-repeats) things he's heard recently. Tonight, out of the blue, he announced, "Bill Gates is the richest and nicest man in the world."

Hello and Goodbye

Children between the ages of one and two love to say hello and goodbye -- to everything. Here are a few things Sage has either greeted or bid adieu to lately:

• The beep that the door makes at her daycare when you use your key card to get in: "Bye beep."
• Dave, whom she also calls "Beep," after our first visit with him on SKYPE: "Bye Beep."
• A fire in our fireplace: "Hi hot."

This reminds me of Evan at a year and a half, when he would say "bye bye" both to things that were going away and to things he hoped would go away. Once when I pulled him, kicking and crying, out of a bath he didn't want to leave, he screamed out through tears, "BYE BYE BUBBLES!" Then there was this famous dinner-time exchange:

Evan (in his highchair, with rice on his tray): "Bye bye, wice."

Eric: "No, Evan, your rice isn't going anywhere. You eat your rice."

*pause*

Evan: "Bye bye, Daddy."

s(i)mile

Tonight we were watching a show about crocodiles on PBS. At one point the croc expert dove into some clear water and emerged holding a mature member of the smallest crocodile species in the world — about four feet long.

Evan: "It's cute, but it's very aggressive. Like Sage."

right-hand man

Tonight Evan fell asleep on the couch, and I had to rouse him at bedtime. As he trudged toward bed he said, "That would be funny if you dressed up as a raising hand for Halloween."

delicacies

Evan (eating a shrimp): "When can we have krill for dinner?"

at breakfast...

Evan: "What do you call Alabama when there's a flood in it?"

Eric: "What?"

Evan: "Flood-abama."

Eric: "Oh... What do you call West Virginia when there's a flood there?"

Evan: "Flood-iginia."

Eric: "No. Wet Virginia."

Evan (using a fork with scrambled eggs on its tines as a microphone and talking in a Guy Smiley voice): "Okay, that wasn't a very funny joke. You're not on TV."