Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Fear the Reaper

Kirk is mildly obsessed with death at the moment. I’m not really sure if this is typical at age four and a half or what. I don’t think he truly understands the concept of mortality, but he definitely knows that people and things die and it freaks him out. So he talks about it. A lot.

I’m not entirely sure what started it all. My sole remaining grandmother has been on a steep and steady decline for the past ten months so there’s definitely been frequent conversation about aging. At one point a few months ago Kirk told me that he wants to be a dad (his standard answer to “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is “A Daddy.”) but he doesn’t want to be a grandpa because he doesn’t want to get old. And then he invented the dying machine.

Dying Machine

We were flabbergasted when he first came up with this concept. He announced out of nowhere that you need to take a rock and smash your dying machine so you can’t die. Apparently everybody has their own dying machine, though there’s still some confusion on the subject. He’s worked through the mythology pretty thoroughly with his dad, dictating the drawing to his father, so you’d have to ask Mr. b for more details but I believe the dying machine is in the center of the Earth. I’m not sure why more people haven’t smashed theirs. Maybe you forget about it as you get older and smashing it just no longer seems to be a top priority?

5 comments:

Chance said...

Awww! That's such a creative solution.

What a wonderful son you have there, bel.

superbadfriend said...

The dying machine is a genius concept.

FEZ BEAR said...

Henry still talks about goats we had two years ago that died and he loves to stare close-up at road kill when we go for walks. He wants to know how the body stops working and why and all this stuff I don't have answers to. The wife just tells him the animals go to the Jesus Farm. Glad to hear Henry isn't the only one with this curiousity...

belsum said...

I was just about floored when he came up with it, Chance and Jess.

I am seriously relieved that Henry's going through a macabre phase now, too, Fez Bear. Must be a boy thing? I honestly don't remember doing this...

Elen said...

Hi yes my eldest talks about dying lots and my neighbours middle child around same age as your Kirk was very interested in death. I wouldn't worry too much. It is a weird concept to get your head around.