Conversations With Jason

Art Linkletter was right, you know; kids really do say the darnedest things. It’s always instructive to hear what’s going on in Jason’s mind, for instance. Lately he’s been piping up with non-sequiturs that make me wonder if he’s actually attempting comedy.

A while back he caught a sneeze in process, as you sometimes will, and Laura said, “Bless You.” Jason corrected her: “No, Mommy, just ‘Bless’. It was only half a sneeze.”

A few days later Laura and I were talking in the car. At a break in the conversation, Jason piped up from the back with this observation: “I can’t type very fast, because I always make a funny word.”

Last night he wanted to play a game, and since I couldn’t put Grace down, we settled on “Space,” which he explained is a game of pretend where you talk about what you’re doing on an adventure in space. I suggested we have a rocket race and he agreed the first to get from the Sun to Pluto was the winner. In the other rockets would be Granny and Grandaddy and Aunt Suzie and Uncle Larry. A few seconds into the “race” I was obviously falling behind, so Jason suggested, “Better press the ‘Fast As You Can Go’ button!”

I did, but I lost anyway. Jason told me to cheer up, as Granny and Grandaddy were still stalled all the way back at the Sun. “That’s too bad,” I said. “It’s never fun to lose.”

“Unless you’re playing the ‘Catch A Bolt of Lightning’ game!” Jason corrected. “In that one, if you lose, you’re still alive!”

That got a laugh from me, and Jason added sheepishly, “Actually, I just made that game up.”

Indeed. Quite a mind on that kid.