Toa's Train of Thought

Toa woke up this morning at 7:30. He came out into the living room where he laid on his stomach on the floor by his hamster cage and sang a lullaby to his pets while I was making breakfast. He came into the kitchen to discover that maybe he did like crescent rolls, especially when they were full of grape jelly. He had two slices of pineapples with his crescent roll....a part of one slice ending up on his lap. He discussed with me in length about whether Sweetling discovered the name of the ghost which had stolen Mario's identity in Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door. He had had to go to bed before Sweetling resolved the end of that chapter in the game, so I gave him a detailed account of the action he missed. He went off to get his morning list done, coming back in the kitchen to discuss whether or not he needed a bath today, if he had just had a bath only two days ago.

While I was unloading the dishwasher, he came back into the kitchen, twirling a little Webkinz hippo in his hand and shuffling in and out of the kitchen while he talked. Step forward, step back. Step forward, step back, and round and round the stuffed hippo goes.

Here was the conversation:

Toa: Are hippopatamuses good swimmmers?

Me: Yes, they are very good swimmers. They spend most of their day in the water.

Toa: Can they swim faster than a fish?

Me: I think that would depend on the kind of fish. They probably swim faster than some fishes, and some fishes probably swim faster than hippos do.

Toa: How fast do dolphins swim?

Me: I don't know how fast dolphins swim.

Toa: Are they the strongest animals? Cause of their bite?

Me: They are very strong animals, and they have a very strong bite, but I don't know if they are the strongest animal.

Toa: What's the strongest animal?

Me: I don't know what the strongest animal is.

Toa: And the flea?

Me: ???

Toa: You know the flea and the hippo and the monkey and the owl?

Me: ???

Toa: I'll be right back.

Whereupon Toa takes off for his bedroom. Puzzled, I wonder into the living room and boot up my netbook, intent on blogging that conversation before I forget the sequence of questions. While my computer boots, I reflect on what he could of been talking about.

Toa is back.

Toa: I couldn't find it.

Me: Do you mean the story about Why the Mosquito Buzzes in Peoples' Ears?

Toa: Oh yeah!

Me: Yeah, that was a mosquito, not a flea.

Toa: Yeah, I just got confusing.

I nod.

Toa: But I remember it was an African book.

Now I'm off to do a search for the story of why mosquitos buzz in people's ears.