duck

The other night, Todd asked Casper if he wanted to read Duck is Dirty. Casper went and fetched the book and as they read, he said the words (“Duck,” “Quack,” “Uh-oh,” “Oops!,” and “Splash”) as he turned the pages. Then he got down from Todd's lap and went into Linus’s room, and returned with a Curious George book.  He brought it to Todd and said, “Duck!” 

Todd thought, no, sweetie, this is a book about a monkey . . . but then looked at the title and realized that it was actually the story about George going to the park to feed the ducks.  (This is one of the new generation of Curious George books, created by some kind of illustration consortium – but actually, they're a lot of fun, and our kids have gotten years of enjoyment out of them.  The point is that there are twelve nearly identical books in this slipcase, and Casper managed to find the duck one, even though there are no waterfowl on the cover.)

We’re going to sound like Mom Samuelson if we say it – and the other kids, one day, will be resentful of the child who always got these comments (we’re looking your way, Jill) – but wow! that kid’s smart.