P is for Physics

Actual conversation with my three-year-old, shortly after sunset on a recent evening:

T: "Mommy, look! Real clouds!" [ed. note: while the Station Fire was raging, we were making a distinction between the columns of smoke sent up by the fire, and "real" clouds]

Me: "I see. Aren't they pretty?"

T: "Yes! They're orange and blue! Why?"

Me (thinking): "Umm... Well, when the sun is setting, the light has to go through more air in the atmosphere, and it bends differently, and that makes it orange. Bending light makes different colors."

T: "Yes! Like a rainbow!"

Wow. Simple association (different colors = rainbow), or profound insight into how refraction works?

P is for Precocious

After a round of singing the Sesame Street classic "C is for Cookie," and including variants like "T is for Tessie":

Tessie: C is for cookie, that's good enough for me... C is for cookie,
that's good enough for me... P is for pneumonia, that's good enough for me...

Tessie's Mom: Did she just say "P is for pneumonia?"

Tessie's Dad: Yes, she sure did.

Tessie: I'm a strange child.

And there you have it.

(Credit/responsibility/blame for this must go to the Barenaked Ladies song "Crazy ABCs" on the Snacktime album, which Tessie greatly enjoys.)