Straight answers

At some point during journalism school, you'll hear about the question words you should use in every interview: Who, what, where, when, how and why.

Biscuit can skip that day of class. He has learned how to use every one of those question words. He gets plenty of use out of them every single day.

"Mom, why is that man walking on the sidewalk? Mom, where is that man going? Mom, how will that man get home?"

I try to answer as many of his questions as I can, but sometimes it's a bit overwhelming. He takes everything I say as fact. It's not like he remembers everything I say, but the thing is, I never know which of the answers he will remember and which ones he'll quickly dismiss.

Like if you ask him why he has to wash his hands after he goes to the bathroom, instead of just saying "because they're dirty" or "because I'm supposed to," he will say "because I touched the toilet, and if you touch the toilet, you have germs on your hands."

Or when he does wash his hands, he always asks, "Mom, can you make the water warm? Hot and cold mix together to make warm." That's something Jeff told him one time when he was helping wash his hands. And it stuck.

Right now, Biscuit is really concerned about miles per hour. He and I were on the way home from day care this evening, and he asked me, "Mom, how many miles per hour are you going?"

"I'm going 40 miles per hour," I told him.

"How fast are they going, Mom?" Biscuit asked, pointing to the car passing us on our left.

"They're probably going about 45 miles per hour," I said to him. "Which number is bigger, 40 or 45?"

"Um, 45," Biscuit said.

"That's right," I said. "45 is more than 40, so that means that car is going faster than us."

"Mom, how many miles per hour do firetrucks go?" Biscuit asked.

And here's where I really wanted to think about my answer. What I told him about that other car going 45 is probably not something he'll remember, but with his love of firetrucks, he'll probably hang on to whatever facts I share about them.

"I guess it depends on whether they're on a call or not," I said. "If they're on their way to a fire, they'll drive fast so they can get there in a hurry. But if they're just driving around or going to get dinner, they'll driver slower."

See how that worked? Vague but true.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I am completely amazed at how much kids have to learn, especially in the first few years of their lives. Their brains are like sponges, and you have to be careful what you give them to soak up.