Ocean or Pond

Eli was what some would call an early talker.  He was having eloquent conversations with us before he was two. Silas, on the other hand, has taken a little longer to warm up to the whole talking thing. Not that that means he has trouble communicating by any means, he's just not as interested in the nuances of language. That's fine.  In fact, it gives us a lot of pleasure. The way he talks, like. every. word. is. it's. own. complete. sentence. is totally endearing.  "Mommy. me. jump. on. bed. on. my. butt." "Me. no. want. to. kill. da. mice.  Me. like. mice. Mice. nice."  The way he describes those things which are ours as "ars." is pretty cute too.  When he's repeating after us to say his nightly prayers, he often adds a few "nan-que for tha inni wee mamamama weeess baby strong."  Ya, we don't know what that means either.

Anyway, Eli is our greatest interpreter.  I'm pretty good at guessing what Si-guy says, most of the time, but where I lack, Eli makes up for me.  And, when Silas has trouble with words, Eli is quick to correct and instruct.

Like this morning for instance, when we were driving down the country road we take to get anywhere in the city, and Silas pointed out a pond and said, "Oh-see-en" (read: ocean), and Eli said, "That's not an ocean Silas, it's a pond." "No, oh-see-en."  Eli, looking exasperated looked at his little brother and said, "Silas, do you think a whale would fit in there?  Then it's not an ocean, it's a pond." Case closed.

So, if you are ever wondering if the body of water you are looking at is an ocean or a pond, just think if it could fit a whale or not and you will know. As for the lakes, sloughs, puddles and seas, I will have to ask Eli to elaborate on his theory for me later.