Dinosaurs and Hair Follicles

"Were you bald when you were a little boy, Daddy?" my little boy asked with earnest eyebrows.

I smiled. "Nope. Not until I was a man."

The two-year-old piped up. "You alweady bald, Daddy. Dat how Jesus made you."

I couldn't help but laugh. That was yesterday afternoon. This evening my five-year-old resumed the conversation.

"Daddy, were the dinosaurs extinct when you were a little boy? Or were they still alive?"

"Were the dinosaurs extinct? Well.... What do you think, Nathan?"

"Mmmm. I think... I think they were still alive when you were a little boy."

Maybe that explains how I could have become so prematurely bald. Just like Jesus made me.

Bad guys

Jen's sitting on the couch with remote in hand as I write, fast-forwarding past certain scenes in The Empire Strikes Back. A running flow of commentary emanates from Nathan and Susanna, lying on their bellies in front of the tube.

From the set I hear Han Solo shout, "I'll see you in hell!"

"Oooh," says Susanna. "That's a mean thing! He should not say that. That's where Satan lives, so that's mean."

Nathan: "Why does he live there? Is he a bad guy?"

Susanna: "Uh-huh."

Nathan: "Does he do bad things to people?"

Susanna: "Yup."

Movie critic theologians. Where do they get that from?

Alter Egos

"I'm oozing mine 'magination!" declared Michael to his mom the other day. A month away from turning 3, he's begun taking on other identities, remaining in character for 5 minutes or even an hour at a time.

"I'm Dr. Seuss!" I kept hearing around the house this evening. Finally I saw Michael, playing with Kennedy and Carter, friends who were visiting. Evidently all three were Dr. Seuss.

Then I smiled as it dawned on me: they were each wearing a toy stethoscope, bright yellow tubing with bright red and blue pieces hanging around their necks.

The 4-year-old also heard, and quickly took corrective steps: "Dr. Seuss isn't a doctor!" We all love to correct misguided poor saps.

"I'm Doctow Seuss!" insisted the 2-year-old.

"But he's not a doctor!" argued his brother.

"He's not?" I asked, surprised Nathen had picked up this subtlety.

"No, he's not a real doctor. He's just a man who writes books."

"You're right!" I affirmed him.

But Michael had the final word. "I'm Doctow Seuss."