Where the Wild Thing Is

In an effort to prepare my Little Man for preschool we are working on shapes and colors. He is very good with both. The only color he struggles with sometimes is gray (and really? is that even a color?). Justin will ask Noah in a very secretive manner, "Ok, Noah, what is something that is red?" Noah will peer back and forth from under his eyebrows and surreptitiously point to a Utah Ute blanket, or the top of his Jake and the Neverland Pirates cup. When he is right (which is always) we tell our bright lad that he has done a good job.

As a side note, the other day I was working in the office as my darling children were supposed to be sleeping. I heard Noah playing, story-telling, and the like. Then I heard the following exchange:

Noah: Ok, Monkey, what is something that is yellow?
Monkey: silence (but I assume there was gesturing going on because Noah followed up with...)
Noah: No, Monkey, that's not yellow, try again.
Monkey: silence (but more educated pointing)
Noah: That's right Monkey! The top of the boat is yellow. Good job, Monkey!
Me: muffled laughter and chortling

One day we asked Noah where is something that is green. His face broke into a big grin, and he pointed a finger at his little chubby kid smile. "Noah's teeth are green!" He declared.

Now, just to be clear, we brush our kids' teeth every night, and despite milk and juice addictions, their little chompers are pearly white. We aren't the kind of parents to just let their beloveds' teeth rot to green in their skulls.

"Your teeth are green?!" I asked aghast.

Noah grinned even bigger and nodded vigorously. He then informed me that he also has red eyes. And lifting his adorable pudgy wrists with digits flexing into a curl, he mentioned that he has claws. "What about your fingers?" I asked.

"No," he said in apparent distress. "Noah doesn't have fingers, Noah has claws. ... ROAR!"

And I'll buy that he's a monster. We can play this game for awhile. But my Little Man Monster is going to have to toughen up to make it in monster land. After pinching his forefinger in some Lego's, Noah ran over to me on the verge of tears and wailed, "I hurt my claw!" And yes, mommy had to kiss his claw better. ...