Bathroom Humor

On our way over to the coast to visit Jim and Mary, the kids and I stopped at a rest stop for the usual reasons (running around like maniacs and a visit to the bathrooms). We found a nice, big handicap-enabled stall that accommodated all three of us quite nicely. Apparently Larkin and Finn had not encountered an auto-flush toilet before. It flushed while Finn was still on it (we theorized that it was confused by lightweights) and a great deal of shrieking and giggling over the foolishness of a toilet that thinks it should flush while occupied ensued. There was repeated hilarity when it did the same thing to Larkin. When I was done, there was more giggling and chattering and speculation about when it would flush again.

When we left the bathroom, which had been unoccupied when we entered, we discovered a little old lady with a walker waiting for her turn with a great big grin on her face. She announced: "Boy, I haven't been this excited to use a bathroom in many years... it sounds like a great one!"

Fundamentalism

This week, while shopping for fruit at the Co-op, Larkin discovered what I think is the fundamental basis of variable algebra: "You know, if you take two bananas and add another two bananas... you have four bananas. But if you take two bananas and add two nectarines... you just have two bananas and two nectarines."

After a long pause, she went on to explain the basics of hierarchical classification structure: "Well, I guess you could just say you have four pieces of fruit."

Nerd-In-Training

Both kids enjoy counting things. There was a recent argument in the car about how many of us were in the family. Larkin insisted there were four. Finn calmly claimed only three: "See? Zero... one... two... three!"