The pope

All day yesterday, I excitedly talked with Jasper about the new pope and the election process taking place in the Vatican City, the bells ringing, the smoke from the smokestack, the ballots, etc.. and all of that happening even as we talked!!! I talked and talked about the pope and built it up with great excitement, wonder, and awe. All day.

Come to find out, the whole day he thought I was talking about poop.

yeah, I shoulda seen that one coming.

Once I figured out that Jasper thought I was talking about poop, I began the adventurous task of explaining to Jasper the difference between the pope and poop.

It went something like this:

me- "So... poop is... well, poop is.. hmm... poop is poop. You know poop, right?"

Jasper-  "Poop! Poop!!!!" indeed he does know poop well. :o)

me- "Ok. Well, poop is poop. But the pope is not poop. The pope is in charge of all the Catholic Church and he lives in the Vatican City in Rome and talks to the Cardinals a lot and holds very important services."

me- "Vatican City. Can you say Vatican City with me?? Let's try it together. Va..ti...can...Ci..ty..."

Jasper- "poop!"

me- "No, the pope is not the same as poop. The pope is in the Vatican City. Can you say 'Vatican City'?"

Jasper- ...blank stare... his head is cocked to one side and he can tell that what I'm saying is very important to me, and I can tell that he is trying very hard to figure out what I'm saying. He's trying really, really hard to comprehend, but nothing is dawning yet.

I try again.

me- "ok. poop is... well, it's poop. But the pope is.... hmm (at this point I'm trying really hard to find a way to bring it down to his level)... the pope is a little guy who wears a red robe."

Jasper- "Pope!! Guy!! Red Robe!!!!"

Jasper is elated! He can finally understand what I'm talking about. And indeed he does understand about a little guy who wears red robes. Jasper understands "guy." He delights in identifying who's a guy and who's a girl (at the top of his lungs) while shopping at Khols. He understands "red" because half his smarties are red and he lives and dies for smarties. He understands "robe" because we just went shopping for a robe at Khols!! This is perfect!!

I felt like the mommy of the year. Jasper is going around, chanting "pope!! red robe!! guy!!"

In that moment, I was sure that I was raising up a baby genius and had visions of him entering college at age 6 and getting his doctorate at age 9. After all, he's a 22 month old toddler who knows what a pope is!! I was so proud of us both. Mommy of the year, indeed!

That moment, however, was very and extremely fleeting when the next words out of Jasper's mouth were to ask if the "pope guy pooped".

Again, I shoulda seen that one coming.

These are random pics of Jas, aka "baby genius", playing with his magnifying glass this morn.