Funny Kid Conversation

Last night, Eric, the kids and I went to a bonfire/pig roast at the home of one of my teacher friends up in Indiana. It was way out in the country, but the weather was perfect and the friends are good ones. Eric and I were sitting by the bonfire talking with our music teacher and his wife. In our peripheral, we could hear this:

Ben: Riddle me, riddle me, ree--I see sumpin' you don't see, and the cowor is orange.

Kaela: The fire?

Ben: Nope. A great big orange tiger walking froo tall grass. RARRR!!

Kaela: Ben, you need a few lessons. Sit down here.

She told him that when you play riddle me riddle me ree, first of all, you should be able to see the thing you're describing. Otherwise, the game's no fun. THEN, without even slowing down to take a breath--she went on to tell him that when he's watching commercials, he needs to stop saying, "I need dat," and start saying, "I want dat," because a need is something like food for survival, and a want is something that you would like to have like more toys.

After all that (and poor Ben is just absorbing all this worldly advice quietly, and with reverent attention) Kaela pulled out her little purse full of change and tried to teach him how to count coins to make a dollar.

I guess she had been frustrated for awhile that he wasn't as far along in his education as he should be--and chose last night to teach him everything all at once. After all, you wouldn't want to waste any good learnin' time just enjoying the cool night and bonfire marshmallows.

Eric and I just cracked up.