October 17, 2013
Lucy: [sobbing] Abby coughed on my cookie, and now I can't eat it.
Eraina: [tired] It's ok, you can eat it.
Lucy: [sobbing] But it has bad germs on it.
Eraina: It's ok, you can just eat it.
Lucy: But it has germs on it, and you said I'll get sick.
Eraina: [the germs and hand-washing lessons are kinda hurting me right now.] Here, let me see your cookie. [And then I blew on it.] There, I blew the germs off.
Lucy: MA-MMMY! Are they off?
Eraina: I think so. It's ok. [We don't have any more frosted sugar cookies. That's the last one. And Abby is sitting happily at the table eating hers.]
Lucy: Did all the germs blow off? Is it true??
Eraina: Ummmmm
Lucy: [still sobbing] Is it true?? Are they off?
Eraina: .... I don't know...?
Lucy: No, is it really, really true?! Or do you just think it's true in your head?
Eraina: You mean like, "is it a fact" or "is it an opinion?"
[And then I explained the definitions of fact and opinion, and she said we should've traded cookies with Abby right away, and I apologized for not thinking of that and told her that that was a good idea and that her cookie probably still had bad germs on it. And she - as she's always been - calmed with the truth of the rational discussion, and then we found cookie dough in the freezer.]
Bryan loves this story. And I'm proud of Lucy. And I do think there's absolute truth, so I'm glad she intuitively realizes it at an early age.
