Live & Let Die

So the Whirling Dervish is spinning about the den, eating pretzels and jumping up and down between karate moves. He says he is being a vacuum cleaner. (That delivers punches and shin kicks? Quentin Tarrantino's vacuum cleaner, maybe...)

But I'm already off track. I mean to be documenting a 3-year-old's growing understanding of BIG TOPICS.

We were packing the kitchen last week, using old newspapers to wrap things. Miles saw a picture of the pope's massive funeral and asked me what it was. I tried to fudge a little because I didn't want to get into the conversation of death; I told him it was a kind of parade and kept packing. But he just kept asking questions! He wore me down, man! He wore me down, and I cracked under the pressure.

"That was a man who died, baby. A good man, who was kind of a preacher, and who died. Lots of people are in this picture because they liked this man who died. They were sad to see him go. So they came to say goodbye. This is his funeral."

OK, everything on the table now. I was hoping for information overload, which often sends Miles back to his toy trucks and nonsensical conversations with the Fisher Price Little People. But, instead.... "Oh," says Miles. "Like the dinosaurs."

(Who are dead, he meant.) "Yes, I guess so. Like the dinosaurs"

"Yeah" says Miles, pointing to the pope body in state, "This guy's extinct, Mom. He's ex-TINCT!"

Like the dinosaurs. :)

*


On a related note, today in the car, Miles retold me the Tale of Squirrel Woe that he gathered through Papa Jim this weekend and first told me last night. It got better in its second telling -- more vivid detail -- and it goes almost like this (I've decided to quote even though I may be a little off here and there):
"And, and, last night, when I was with Papa Jim, and the school was out on our walk, we saw a flat squirrel. He bumped into a car. Yeah, he was in the road and a car bumped him and he fell right on the concrete and all his fur fell out on the concrete. And he couldn't get up because he was stuck there, on the concrete. He was not paying pu-ttention, Mom. No, he was not...."

(Yes, it's a cautionary tale, much like Aesop's fables.)

So, our little guy is already processing the concepts of death and dying. Thus far, he seems completely unfazed. But, then again, he's still surprised when one of his punches impacts a parent's face and causes an outcry. He's not much into the reality of pain and suffering; he just hasn't had any yet. (Sigh.) I'm grateful he's made it this far in life unscathed... but he's got a lot to learn, doesn't he?

Poor, sweet little fella.