Seasons (or One of My Favorite Conversations, Ever)

Part One

We're riding in the car to one of Ethan's playgroups.

"Mom, do you know why I watered the pavement the other day?" Ethan pipes up, referring to his quest to cover every inch of pavement around our house with water from a too big watering can that kept sloshing over his knees.

"Why?" I asked, curious about this offering of information.

"Because I was trying to make it summer."

"You were?"

"Yeah."

"Aw, Ethe. I'm sorry. You can't MAKE summer come."

"Well why not? I can make winter turn to spring."

"How did you do that?"

"When I kicked the snow with my feet so hard I could see the ground under it. That was making winter go away," he announces proudly.

"Well, actually --"

"And I can make summer turn to fall. Do you know how?" he keeps going. "I can climb up into a tree in summer, and make the leaves fall to the ground. That makes it fall."

I try not to laugh. "Sorry Ethan, but you can't make the seasons come. You have to wait for them."

I feel like there's some sort of profound message tucked in there, but before I can ponder it we've reached our destination.

Part Two

After school, now in the car with Anna, we pick up the conversation again.

"Well, I WANT to make it summer. I want to go to the camp!" Ethan says stoutly. "I know...I can get the sun and bring it closer and that will make it hot." I'm impressed with the way he's putting two and two together, in his own way.

"How are you going to do THAT?" Anna asks knowingly.

"I'll use a tool," Ethan says, probably thinking of Mikey Mouse Playhouse. "What tool could I use?"

"Little problem, bud," I contribute. "The sun is 93 million miles away. How are you going to get there?"

"I will bring a picture of my mom, my helmet, and space candy," Ethan starts quoting from his "I'm Going to Be the Best Astronaut Ever" book.

"You mean you're going to go in a spaceship?" I ask, prodding him to fill in the blank.

"Yeah!"

"Maybe you could use a shrink ray when you get there," Anna says.

"That means you make the sun really small so you can grab it and take it back with you," I explain.

"No Anna! We don't want the sun to be small. Then it won't be hot!" Ethan exclaims. Again, I'm impressed with his reasoning skills.

"Well, then we'll bring it here and use the shrink ray to make it big again, and then it will be really hot and will be summer," Anna concludes.

"Then we can go to the beach!" Ethan adds giddily.

Part Three

A half-hour later, while he's sucking on an ice cube in the kitchen: "Ohhh! I know how I can make it turn from fall into winter!"

"How?"

"You take ice cubes, fly them up to the clouds in an airplane, and that will make the snow come down."

"Ohhhh," I say encouragingly.

"That's how you do it, mamma," Ethan says in the voice of an instructor. "I figured it out."