Baby Poop and Business Suits

"Niko," I asked while hugging and smooching him after working all day, "did you miss me!?"

"Yes." he replied. Then added, "Or, not really."

A four year old brain... ON FIRE!

While driving to Kalamazoo, within about a ten minute time span, Niko shot these questions at me:

Mom, how do trees grow? 

Mom. Where do flowers come from?

Mom, who made this town?

How do you make cars?

Mom, how do lights work?

Mom-ma! How do you make a flag like that one in our yard?

How do you make a mailbox?

Mom? How do you make a skateboard?

My response:

"Well, uuuuh, er, ummmm, you see, things are alive on the earth because of oxygen and dirt, the earth makes -

um, cause bees pollinate and buzz from plant to, well, a few hundred years ago there were just Native Americans here and Michigan was all woods, and then European people came over on ships and -

well people made buildings and then they started adding more buildings and it became, well, then there were roads -

but back then there weren't any cars, you know, really it wasn't THAT long ago, you know, just a hundred years or so, like just before Grandma Arnsman was born, people rode on horses and had carriages pulled by horses, but then -

well, you know Benjamin Franklin? He figured out how lightning, I mean, he flew a kite and figured out how electricity was in the air and how to make things light up -

oh, that plastic flag? The one for the buried electrical cable, I think? Is that what you mean? Well, that's plastic, and plastic is made from a chemical process -

well, mailboxes, um, metal ones like THAT ONE THERE, are made in a factory too, by people, and machines -

Oh! Wood is what makes skateboards, yes wood from trees! Yes I know that one! You take a tree and cut it, saw it, shape it to make the shape of a skateboard, and then you use rubber or plastic for the tires, I think? Rubber, um, rubber comes from..."