Theo is the king in our family of the non sequiter, the seemingly random comment or question or assertion that gives us a glimpse into his wonderful and fabulously nonsensical mind. A few of Theo's thoughts recently:
At lunch this past weekend, Theo was talking about college and wondering aloud what it would be like. He asked what you can learn about at college. We said that you can choose what you want to learn about, and we asked what he thought he would like to learn about at college. He said he thought tigers, and also rainbows. We got a kick thinking about his college diploma, reading "Major-Tigers; Minor-Rainbows.''
Then a couple of nights ago before bed, Theo was talking about marriage. This is a common subject for Theo. He is very interested in knowing how he will find someone to marry and how he will obtain a baby. He has for at least a year been adamant that he wants to have a child, and he has had some anxiety at times about how to make sure he can have a baby. So a couple of nights ago both boys are in bed, tucked in, when Theo says, "Mama? How do you get someone to marry you?" He then asked whether, when you are ready to get married and are looking for someone to marry you, if you put a sign up in your yard that you are looking for someone to marry. I suppose this seems like a semi-normal thing to do since when Daddy was looking for a new job, he put up signs in his and many other people's yards, asking them to vote for Daddy to get a new job. I said no, you won't put a sign up, you'll I said something pithy like, you have friends, and you will like being with your friends, and someday you might like one of your friends more than all the rest, and you want to be with that person more than anyone else, and you will decide to get married. He mulled that over for a moment, and then said, "Maybe I'll marry Jasmine from my class." I asked him what he liked about Jasmine, and he said "She sits next to me at my desk, and sits next to me on the carpet sometimes. She has cool hair and she doesn't like to raise her hand." He then asked more about the mechanics about how you get a baby. He said, "There can be a mommy and a daddy, or two daddies or two mommies, or one mommy" (I stopped him here and said that there could also be one daddy and no mommies, though we don't have any friends like that). "But how do two daddies have a baby? If you marry a boy, how do you make a baby?" I briefed the issues of adoption and surrogacy. These mechanics and practicalities fascinate Theo, and the questions always come at the end of the day when he's just getting settled into bed.
