Chatting with Lukas

My children still have a daily nap or rest time.  Ava usually sleeps, and Lukas sleeps maybe every-other day.  Part of the routine includes me going into Ava’s room to tuck her in and sing her a song or two.  Then I go have a short but sweet quiet time with Lukas.  We talk about whatever he wants to talk about for five minutes or so.  It is actually a very special time for the two of us that we both look forward to each day.  This blog is more or less being written so that I can remember this conversation, but I hope that you all get a laugh out of it too.

Today, Lukas wanted to know what my favorite sport is.  Here is the conversation that followed his question:

 “I like to play volleyball and softball.”

 “Well, Mom, we have a volleyball set in the shed (This actually belongs to the Ernsts and for some reason has been moved from place to place with us in 3 different states now).  We should set it up so you can play.  How do you play volleyball?”

 As I am trying to think of a way to explain volleyball without a demo, I say, “Ummmm…you know, maybe we’ll show you when you’re a little bigger.”

 “How about when I’m 6 or 7?  No, definitely when I’m 6.  Does that sound good mom?”

 “We’ll see.” (This is the basic parenting phrase for, probably not, but let’s move on to something else.)

 “So what is softball?”

 “It’s just like baseball, but the ball is bigger.”

 “But the ball must be soft, right?”  (That would make sense, now wouldn’t it?)

 “Well, actually, it’s not all that soft.   My coach hit me in the head once, and the ball definitely was not soft.”  (I know you’re all having an “ah-hah” moment right now.)

 “So it hurts to get hit by a softball.  You should’ve worn a helmet.”

 “Yeah, that might have helped.”

 “So what’s different about a softball?”

 “It’s bigger than a baseball.”

 “But you play the same way, right?”

 “Pretty much.”

 “So why’s it called a bat?”

 “Ummm….I’m not sure I’ve ever thought about that before.”

 “Oh.  Well I wonder why.”

 I am then struck by my own ah-hah moment, “Oh, I’ll bet I know!  You know when you see a cat batting at a toy (picture me giving a demo at this point)?”

 “Yeah.”

 “Well, the cat is batting at the toy.  When you play baseball or softball, you are batting at the ball, so they call it a bat.”

 “Oh.  That makes sense.”

 “Good.  Now go to sleep.”

 “Okay.  Bye mom.”

 That pretty much says it all.