Saturday, November 27, 2010

Day 1143 - Rainbow Connection



Ever since watching an episode of Sid the Science Kid and driving through West Hollywood, the kids are fascinated with rainbows. They can mumble their way through a song naming all of the colors, and they are especially excited if they see anything resembling a rainbow.

One day, the way the light was shining through the window, it created a little rainbow on the wall. I called the kids over to look at it, and they looked as giddy and excited as Japanese tourists at Disneyland.

Andrew got my attention and asked, "Daddy? What a rainbow?"

Interesting question, I thought. Do I tell the kids what a rainbow actually is or do I create some imaginary visual picture in their head to stimulate their little creative minds. I decided to go with latter.

"Well, my little lads." Okay. I didn't really call them "my little lads", but I thought it would be a better lead-in into my rainbow explanation. "I think rainbows are very special and magical. Some people think there are special presents at the end of a big rainbow. There are some people called leprechauns who think there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And Kermit the Frog thinks his Hollywood dreams are at the end of one."

And yes, I really did say the Kermit the Frog thing. Sometimes I throw in references for my own amusement. Give me a break...

After my explanation, Andrew looked more puzzled, but shrugged it off and started hitting the little rainbow on the wall.

As for Emma, she looked at me and said, "Daddy. I think rainbows are light that go through water drops."

WTF? Who the...what the...calling Bill Nye!

As much as I'd like to increase Emma's 529 plan, the truth is that Lisa had a talk with the kids about rainbows just before I did. So whereas Andrew ignored both of our explanations, Emma retained what Lisa said and basically told me, "You're a liar and Mommy's smarter."

Both of which are unfortunately true.

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