The Games We Play

After we are finished reading books for the night, Luke usually wants to play a game to extend his awake time as much as possible. So, we are snuggled in bed and he makes up some ridiculous game and we play it for a while, me hoping to wear him out so he drifts to sleep and he hoping to work himself up so he stays awake as long as possible.

One of his favorite games is the rhyming game. There are no rules. He says a word, which doesn't even have to be a real word, and I say a word that doesn't have to be a real word that rhymes with the word that doesn't have to be a real word that he said. Or, I say a completely non-rhyming word that doesn't have to be a real word, and then he can say a word that doesn't have to be a real word that rhymes or doesn't rhyme with what I said. It is basically just an excuse for him to yell out words like snot or barf or poop or p*nis.

As we were playing this game the other night, and we were actually doing pretty good at making real rhymes with real words, I paused the game to say, "Do you realize that the word booger rhymes with the word sugar?"

"So?" he said.

"So, don't you think it's weird that something that is so yucky and gross that you would never eat in a million years sounds so much like something that is yummy and delicious and is used to make candy and cake and cookies and things that you would eat non-stop if you could?"

He stared at me, it seemed, in deep contemplation over my profound statement. I expected some response to my observation, which was just the sort of enigma Luke would normally want to study and scrutinize. I anticipated his response. He opened his mouth to speak. I waited for it. He said,

"POOP!"

The game continued.