De-Weeding

Daylight Saving Time wreaked havoc on Cordelia-bird, and she's been skipping her morning nap all week. Today we got her back on track, but then her afternoon nap was off. She finally passed out at 1:59. Cody, naturally, woke up at 2:04. One of those days...but it meant we had a big chunk of time just for us. We decided to work in the yard. We bailed out the sandbox, and then Cody announced that he was on a mission to pick up every single stick in the yard and put them in the trash. (Awesome!) I got my gardening gloves and started weeding. And then this conversation ensued:

Cody: Shannon, what are you doing over there? (He has taken to calling me "Shannon" almost exclusively lately. Whatever.)

Me: I'm weeding, buddy. See all these little weeds that have sprung up in the garden? I'm going to get rid of them so they don't crowd out the flowers.

Cody: Then why are you weeding?

Me: What do you mean?

Cody: Don't you have to de-weed the garden?

That sound you hear is stunned silence. I mean, isn't that kind of remarkable? Not only conceptually--because he's right, it is logical that "weeding" should be like "seeding the yard" or "fertilizing the garden"--you're adding something. And it struck him as nonsense that "weeding" would apply to removing something. But it was the verbal part that caught me off guard--I was so impressed that he had the concept but also had the language to express it. Well, made up the language--logically. This kid is so awesome.