The Talking What Book?

Our usual dinner routine includes a lesson to Jake in how to properly sit in his seat. It goes something like this, two or three times per evening meal: "Jake, put your butt in the middle of the seat, with your legs under the table and your feet facing forward. Sit down and stay there while you eat."

Tonight he (finally) sat properly and looked...well, a little short sitting at the table. So I said (making the joke people always made with me as a kid), "Jake, do you need a phone book to reach the table?"

Jake replied, "What's a phone book?"

Silence. Utter silence. Ike and I looked at each other. Suddenly I saw the wrinkles on his face and I could tell he was looking at mine. I was reminded of my childhood, when we walked to school uphill both ways in the snow every morning...Oh wait, that was my dad's childhood.

I explained this bit of archaic history to our son. This phone book thing. "Well, Jake, it's a book people used to use in the old days before they had the internet to find phone numbers. It was just a big book of phone numbers."

Tomorrow I think we'll tackle the concept of a "rotary phone." Or perhaps a "walkman."

Ike, can you bring me my cane and my pills?