The Littlest Literalist

Rollie is learning to brush his teeth. This involves his new tooth brush, and his starter toothpaste, which is more of a clear gel, than a paste. His particular toothpaste is "Little Bear" style. For those of you not in the know, Little Bear is a PBS cartoon character. So now, Rollie refers to toothpaste as "bear." Funny how kids are literalists that way. A perfect example of this literalism: Rollie was brushing tonight. He pulls his stool over to the sink, climbs up on it, naked after his bath. He holds the toothbrush while i put the "bear" on the brush for him. He begins to brush under my supervision.

"Rollie, brush your top teeth. That's right. Round and round. Okay, now do your bottom."

Rollie proceeds to take his toothbrush and brush his scrotum with it. That's right, to Rollie, his bottom is the general area "down there," and when I said "brush your bottom," that's where he went.