"You can learn many things from children. How much patience you have, for instance." (-Franklin P. Jones)

When my son Eric was just a little boy, one of his best friends was a little girl named Laura, who was a year older than Eric. Since he had no other siblings, he loved Laura, and he'd always go along with whatever she wanted to do. They lived just a few houses from each other, and they played so sweetly together.

Laura's mom loved it when Eric and Laura were together. She'd sit the two of them at her kitchen table, where she'd sometimes give them milk and cookies.

One day, Eric was sitting having a snack at their place as Laura's mom was filling the dishwasher. She told me that Eric watched her intently and finally said, "We don't have that kind of dishwasher."

Laura's mom was surprised, thinking that our dishwashers were both pretty much exactly the same, and so she said "I think they're the same, Eric."

Eric insisted, "No, we don't have that kind." Suddenly, Laura's mom realized that Eric wasn't talking about the dishwasher itself. He was looking at the dishwashing detergent! So, she calmly said, "I see, Eric...well, we use ALL."

Eric looked at her, and with a deadpan face, just replied, "Oh. We just use a tiny bit."
(Eric in Norway, below:)


"Out of the mouths of babes..."