Anyone for Cheerios?

We leave for Yellowstone and our extended vacation on Friday morning. So I should be packing or cleaning or something. Instead, I am going to post a story about Elijah and Cheerios.

This is Elijah.

Elijah is 5 years old and very curious.

He has ideas about the world that make little sense unless you are also 5 years old, in which case you'll think his ideas are not only plausible but brilliant! I am not 5 years old, but I like to remember, as a mother, that my children come up with ideas that are so Fun! and Exciting! and New! and Interesting! to them. So I try not to get annoyed, even when the ideas are messy or frustrating to me.

A few days ago I opened the freezer to find one of my mugs full of water and Cheerios, frozen solid. My husband is a scientific kind of guy, so I assumed he was running some experiment with the kids to teach them about the properties of liquids, solids and freezing points. I didn't even ask myself, "Why the Cheerios?"

I took the mug out of the freezer--if the kids needed to view a frozen solid, it was ready for viewing--and called for Rob. He came into the kitchen and I asked him why he chose to use one of my mugs (instead of, say, a throw away plastic cup). He looked at me blankly and I motioned to the mug sitting on the kitchen counter. He examined it, laughed, and said he had nothing to do with it.

Then I called for Elijah. He came into the kitchen and I asked, "Did you put Cheerios in the freezer?" His face lit up. "Oh, yeah! I forgot! Is it done?" He immediately got a chair and pulled it over to the fridge. As he was opening the freezer door I told him that I took the mug out already. He hopped over to the counter and picked up the mug. As he was checking out his frozen Cheerios I asked him why he froze them. The answer was so simple: "So I can eat frozen Cheerios." Ah. Of course.

I stopped him before he could get out a spoon and try to eat it. Only because I knew it wouldn't work. He was disappointed, but I told him he could try to eat it when it had thawed a little. "What will it taste like?" he asked. I told him I didn't know, cause I didn't want to spoil the fun by telling him that it would just taste like water and soggy Cheerios. Gross.

Here's to my curious little man! A scientist in the making.