Late Night Lessons

She was in bed, and supposedly sleeping, but from down the steps I heard,

“Mom, what is this?”
“What is what, Sis?”
“This. Come see.”

She was pointing to the bones on either side of her ankle.

“I don’t know, sweetie. We’ll ask Dad in the morning, okay?”

I went back downstairs but soon heard little feet on the steps.

“Daddy? Daddy? What is this called?” Again, she pointed to her ankles.

Chad ably replied, “Those bones are your medial and lateral malleolus, honey,” and he pulled her up on his lap while working on the computer. Now she started pointing at him.

“What is this?”
“My clavicle.”
“What is this?”
“My mandible”
“What’s this?”
“It’s time for bed.”

Daddy carried her back to bed, tucked her in “like a taco,” and headed for his own covers. A while later I went upstairs, too, and to my surprise, found Miss Question cuddled in my bed, next to a sleepy-eyed Daddy, still asking body part questions.

“What’s this?”
“Zygoma”
“And this?”
“Thyroid Cartilage”
“What’s this one, Daddy?”

I interrupted the anatomy lesson to say, “Wow, honey. You really like to learn about the body. Are you going to be a doctor when you grow up?”

Then, she gave me “the look” --- so typical of my girl; a look of disgust, disbelief and sheer growl! And, she said, exasperated, “No, Mom! I’m. Going. To. Be. An. ASTRONAUT!

Oh. Sorry.