The Thinker

Lately, it’s become very obvious that Tyler is pondering the curiosities of life. He’ll often ask, after a quiet moment of reflection on his part, questions about everyday things that he has just begun to wonder about:

“Why do some people have different colored skin?”
“What is under the dirt?”
“What is Canada?”
“What is gravity?”
“Why can’t I come to work with you?”
“What is after space?”
“How is God everywhere?”

Some things were easy to answer, but often other things are much harder. Sometimes his questions seem so simple, and I’ll give him a simple answer (and it’s usually while we’re out shopping or running errands, so I’m a little distracted). But my answers usually lead him to ask another question, and then I really have to stop and think about what I’m saying and why he’s even asking the question.

While my answers might mostly confuse him further, sometimes we do learn from some of Tyler’s questions. He asked Mike and I “What is under the dirt?” the other day, and I said, “More dirt.” Mike took it a bit further and said, “Rock.”

Tyler: What’s under the rock?
Daddy: Hot liquid rock, or lava! (trying to get Tyler excited)
Tyler: What’s under the lava?
Daddy: The earth’s core, which is also lava.
Mommy: How can the earth’s core be liquid? Isn’t there a lot of pressure at the center of the earth? Wouldn’t that be solid?
Daddy: But there’s such a high temperature that it has to be liquid.
(I think we have lost Tyler at this point…he just wants to know what the answer is)

So, we go inside and look it up online. Tyler now knows that the earth is made up of a crust, a mantle, a liquid outer core, and (drumroll please) a solid iron inner core! Tyler announced, “Mommy was right, Daddy.”

All this wondering and questioning that Tyler is doing has us entering a sort of new phase in child-rearing that illustrates how Tyler is thinking more abstractly. The questions are getting harder, and we need to be on our toes :)

No complaints, though. I am loving every minute of this!