This morning on the way to school, my fourth-grader and I had the following conversation.
Him: Did you know sloths move so slowly that sometimes they mistake their arm for a branch, reach for it, and then fall to their deaths?
Me: Sloths have arms?
Him: Yeah! Of course they do.
Me: Sloths don’t have arms.
Him: (disbelievingly) Yes, Mom! They have REALLY LONG ARMS!
Me: No, they don’t.
Him: Yes, they do!
Me: They do not.
Him: (patiently) Mom. I’m talking about SLOTHS. S-L-O-T-H-S.
Me: I know what you’re talking about. Sloths. Sloths don’t have arms. Do they?
Him: (exasperated) YES! Sloths have arms!!! S-L-O-T-H-S!
Me: Stop SPELLING it. I KNOW what you’re talking about! Sloths have arms? I never knew that!
Him: (disbelievingly) HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW THAT???
Me: I really think they don’t. I’ll have to look it up when I get home. That’s really interesting.
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You see, that entire time HE was talking about sloths, he saw this animal in his mind.
The entire time I was talking about sloths, and insisting he didn’t need to SPELL it out for me, I was seeing this animal in my mind.
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In my defense, they are both very slow-moving animals.
Yikes, now there’s a brain fart for you!! I admire your boy’s confidence in sticking to what he knew to be true. He’ll need that in life seeing as his mother is losing her mind. Lol.
Mind = lost loooooong ago. 🙂
Remind me to sloth you in the arm next time I see you.
Okay, but only after I’m done pulling sloths out of a wall from a crime scene.
So… What you’re saying is… Even if he spells it, the letters are meaningless. Very funny!
By funny, you mean I’m incredibly smart, right?
I have seen sloths in person and STILL my mind immediately pictured a slug, not a sloth. So I did it too!
THANK you. 🙂
Holy hilarious, Aliza! You made my day with that one. We have all been there, sister!
Heeeee. Son was in hysterics when the wires finally connected.
Well, now! There is a lot worser going on out there than confusing a sloth with a slug. (Wait – that sounds like you used a slug as a device to confuse a sloth!) Anyway, Mr. Santorum confused Obamacare with apartheid, and Ms Palin confused the national debt with slavery, so, in comparison, you done good!
That is 100% awesome.
🙂
I’m sorry, but neither of these animals is real.
I KNEW IT!
i pictured the first sloth in my mind; isn’t yours a slug:)?
Yes. That was my problem.