Buster is developing a curiosity about infinite loops. The other day he asked me, “If two people were saying goodbye and one said ‘Have a nice day,’ and the next one said ‘Okay, have a nice day,’ and the first one said ‘Okay, have a nice day,’ again, and they kept saying ‘Okay, have a nice day,’ to each other, what would happen?”
“No one would have nice day,” I answered.
It wasn’t what he was looking for, but I’m not good with infinity. I can find the ends of it to wrap my brain around, and that’s disturbing.
Buster thinks these type of thoughts a lot. I don’t know if this means he’s destined to become a great philosopher, an accomplished astronomer, or the next Rain Man. It’s good to indulge in deep thought once in a while, but I’m not sure forever thinking about infinity will end well, or at all.
Buster would rather conduct his own thought experiments than accomplish the usual academic goals like learning to read. Two months in, he’s still not sold on Kindergarten, because, in his words, “They make me do things I don’t like to do.”
I can identify with that. It happens to me all the time at work. Still, he has to go to school and I have to go to work so we don’t both end up in an infinite loop of poverty.
They make you build things out of dominoes in Kindergarten? I had no idea it was that horrible.
The thing to know about these deep thinking philosophers who don’t always want to go to Kindergarten is they can be moody. The moodiness strikes hardest in the morning when it’s time to get ready for school. This morning, the disgruntled whimpering started early.
Sometimes when I ask him what’s bothering him, I get a whiny grunt that means, “If you were the kind of parent who loved his children, you’d know what’s wrong without having to ask.” Today I actually got an answer: “I wanted to sleep in the bed with you and Mommy. And I want you to make a fire.”
I explained that everybody had to get up and asked him if he were cold.
He shrugged. “A little.”
Mommy put on his jacket and we sent him to school.
The desire to climb into bed with us, I understand. It’s his favorite Saturday morning ritual. Making a fire is another story. We haven’t thought about our fireplace since last March and we’ve never built a fire before school.
It’s a good thing he told me the problem instead of giving me the “If you loved me, you’d know,” grunt. My love for him is infinite, but maybe that proves there’s a limit to infinity, because I still would not have loved him enough to know I was supposed to build a cozy fire on a random weekday before school.
It looks like I may have to crank the love up beyond infinity to understand him. I hope infinity + 1 is enough, because that’s the largest number I know.
Snoozing on the Sofa 
Every family must have a “deep-thinker” kid. A few years ago, a friend of mine took his three girls to Home Depot to choose a paint color for their bedrooms in the new house. The oldest, a chic teen who dreamed of being a fashion designer, chose black. The youngest, a Disney Princess fan, chose lavender. The artistic middle child returned with four color swatches—aqua, orange, neon green, and purple. “Which one do you want?” he asked. She wanted them all, a different color on each wall. She got it, too. Pays to be different. Ask Buster. 🙂
I wonder if the philosopher/artists is always the middle child.
I think I’ll make the boys paint their own rooms.
There are many kinds of infinity. Just between the numbers 0 and 1 there are an infinite number of numbers. My 6 year old ponders existence itself. Where everything came from, how it all started, why are we here. Naturally, he saves it all for bedtime. Curious minds are a good thing. Usually…
There must be an infinite number of kinds of infinity. There are also an infinite number of ways to delay bedtime.
You are infinitely right about that!
Well, you can’t blame Buster for throwing out the idea of a fire. I like the way that kid thinks.
Most often he thinks like a kid who has a butler instead of a mere father who is late for work.
There is a possibility you’ll need infinity +2. He also may require a fire to come home too. You may not want to assume said fire is supposed to be in the fire place. lol
These big numbers are hurting my brain. I’ll just stick to building fires.
Build a fire first, then have a Scotch. The numbers aren’t so painful after a Scotch.
Now you’re talkin’!
I know your language.
Scott, maybe—and this is just a shot in the dark as there still isn’t a fire—but could it be Buster was only testing you to see if you knew of an infinite number of ways to start one? After all, it is Fall now and Winter is just around the corner. Not to mention, Survivor is in full swing and you never know when your audition tape might get accepted by Jeff Probst resulting in you having to build a fire in order to survive a challenge? You know, you can never be too prepared. 😀
Buster is always testing me. That’s why living with he and his brothers is like being on Survivor every day.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Scott, that you don’t find yourself caught in one of their tribal counsels. 😀
Tribunal Counsels are the worst!
LOL. 😀
OOOOOO That infinity+1 hurts my brain! And heaven forbid dominos are forced upon a Kindergartner to build with. What IS this world coming to? It’s sad seriously to know your son is learning that there will be lots of things in this world we don’t like to do but unfortunately have to. All I can say is good luck getting that boy out of bed Monday through Friday to attend school. And I LIKE the fact he is a THINKER. That tickles my fancy bone!!! LOL
I know what you mean. The day I learned there were things in life I would have to do that I didn’t want to was a sad, sad day for humanity. It’s a miracle I can get up in the morning.😀
I always enjoy reading your posts. Buster doesn’t know what a lucky boy he is!
Thank you. I always like to visit your blog as well. I’ve always been into history, but have never learned much about the history of restaurants before.