In which The Four-Year-Old dips into phrenology

The Four-Year-Old, surveying the world from her car seat: “Mommyo, why are some trees called evergreens?” Mommyo: “Because they keep their leaves all year round and…

Book Review: Pooh Invents a New Game

This week’s book is a classic Winnie-the-Pooh story and there is really very little I need to say about it. So instead of adding another five paragraphs of praise for A. A. Milne to the Webiverse, I will simply share what may be my favorite paragraph from any book The Four-Year-Old and I have read together thus far.

In which The Four-Year-Old answers her own question, sort of

The Four-Year-Old: Mommyo, I have both a question and an answer. Mommyo: OK. The Four-Year-Old: The question is, when did you get that bear poster? Mommyo:…

“Why are letters in alphabetical order?”

This week’s reader question comes from Ben in San Antonio, who tweets via his father to ask “Why are letters in alphabetical order?” My husband’s reasoned, if not helpful, response to this is “For the same reason numbers are in numerical order.” There must be a better answer, I thought. So I dug around until I found one.

In which a new Mommyo truism is born

Recently, we acquired a 2012 Entertainment book in the hopes that it would have lots of great coupons The Four-Year-Old and I could use as we…

“So, where do we get to go, Mommyo?”

The Four-Year-Old, as the cop walks away from the car after giving her mother a ticket for an illegal right turn: “Where do we get to go now, Mommyo?”

Mother: “What do you mean?”

The Four-Year-Old: “What’s the ticket to? Is it to SteveSongs?”

“How did Friday get its name?”

The Four-Year-Old, climbing into her car seat after preschool, wasted no time on small talk. “Mommyo, I know Saturday is named after Saturn and Monday after the moon. How did Friday get its name?”

“Why is it called Fifth Disease?”

Fifth Disease is one of those deliciously mild childhood illnesses that nearly all of us get at one point or another, that are most contagious before any symptoms appear, and that clear up (in most cases) on their own. By the time the rash alerted me to the fact that my daughter was sick, she was back to feeling (mostly) great. But in all the shuttling to and from the doctor, she had plenty of time to ask questions, including “Why is it called Fifth Disease?” If Fifth Disease doesn’t win the prize for Most Literal Name in Medicine outright, it should at least be given an Honorable Mention.