Only a Three Year Old...

Last night I was hanging out at my sister's house playing with my nephew and niece. Nephew is three now and has a very large vocabulary. He continually uses words that amaze me. Last night's phrase that stunned me was, "thunderous sound." How many three year olds do you know that use that phrase? (I know plenty of people I work with could never use it!) I had to pause a minute when he said it and asked him where he learned the word thunderous (and how he knew how to use it correctly). He repeated it several times with his typical excitement and then ran off to his bookshelf. He came back with a book and turned directly to a certain page and had me read it. Yep...there was the phrase, "thunderous sound." He should do well on his ACTs someday.

With his big vocabulary he also shows the innocence of a three year old. Last night he was dancing around saying he was "BIG!" after I asked him if he could fit into a tiny "cave" we'd built. Then he widened out his arms and said, "I'm fat!" and continued his little tippy-toed dance (as only a three year old can do). Then he leaped at me and said, "Webgal," (he used my actual name here), "Are you fat?"

I was struck silent for a second as I absorbed his question. I wasn't offended. I mean, I AM fat. But, what's more is...he didn't mean it to be offensive. He doesn't see the world that way. He didn't say it to inflict harm or to tease. He sees big and small and short and fat as simply as words to describe size.

My sister was, to say the least, flabbergasted. She's was all flustered saying, "how did he learn that? He doesn't know that word!" I know she felt embarrassed, but it wasn't in the least embarrassing. He was just asking a simple question. A simple question he asked while flinging his arms around his aunt and giving her a great big hug. I'll take getting called fat any day if it comes like that.