Does Pizza Come From Chicken’s Feet?

“Does pizza come from chicken’s feet?” Nicholas asked the other day.

Christian and I both stopped, looked at each other, looked back at him, and cracked up.

Nicholas is the king of random questions. He asks questions that have no answer, like “Why is it too late to go to the playground?” That seems straightforward, but the syntax doesn’t quite work. Like, is he asking Why do you think it’s too late?, or is he asking, What time is it? or is he just protesting the reality in which it is too close to a) dinnertime or b) bedtime to stop at the playground?

You may think I’m overstating the case, but stop a minute and think about it. How would you answer such a question? My standard answer is, “Because it just IS.”

Since my conversation about raising a strong-willed child, Nicholas and I are slowly finding our way toward a more universally beneficial relationship. That’s not to say it is without its hiccups. We had the mother of all “hiccups” at dinnertime on the first day of summer school, but we’re not going to talk about that. In general, I’m beginning to recognize how to affirm his feelings and  still not cave, and he’s beginning to understand that he has to do what Mommy says.

Our neighbors had one of their grown children visiting the past few days. His kids got absorbed into a pickup baseball game that materialized in the cul de sac, involving children from four houses. The next day, he came over to chat and said, “I met your son. He’s cute.” A beat. “Precocious. He was coaching the whole team.”

And he’s a ladies’ man, to boot. I’ll give you just one example of many. During Spring Break, a friend of ours (one of our choir members) brought his niece over to play with Julianna, because they’re the same age. Julianna and Miss G. did not hit it off. But Nicholas and Miss G. became besties in about five minutes. When she came back to visit her uncle again around Memorial Day, it progressed to hand holding at church on choir Sunday.

Here is the Facebook exchange I got that afternoon:

Followed by this one:

I’m just going to shut my eyes and pretend I’m too blind to recognize the implications for adolescence. Ahem. Once again, as Christian said…