Mommy Gets a Geography Lesson from Cal

During this morning’s rush to get ready for work or school (depending upon which Leatherman was doing the getting ready) we managed to talk a little bit about, well, let’s just say India and mountains.  Cal started it off with, “Tibet <pronounced TI-bet> is in India.”

“It’s Tibet <pronounced ti-BET>,” Dan corrected Cal’s pronunciation.  “You’re right, it is.”

“Tibet.  It’s close to Nepal,” Cal continued.

“That’s right!  Nepal is where the biggest mountain in the world is,” Dan added.  News to me.

Cal knew this.  “Mt Everest,” he said.  I don’t even think I really knew that.  Dan confirmed that Cal had it right.

Then Cal added, “It’s not the biggest mountain in the UNIVERSE, though.  MARS has the biggest mountain.  It’s THREE TIMES the size of Mt. Everest.”

Goodness.  I don’t know if his facts are correct.  We’ve been doing a lot of reading of this “Planets” book, so I’m sure it’s in there.  When we read, facts just stick in Cal’s head (while they just bounce off of the eighty-seven other things I’m subconsciously thinking about as I read and either exit or find their place in an unreachable place in my brain).  I know Mars isn’t one of the gas planets, so he could very well be right.

Cal then brought waterfalls into the picture.  “The tallest waterfall is bigger than the tallest mountain,” he said.

Huh?  Dan quickly challenged this with, “What do you think a waterfall falls off of, Cal?”

Cal responded matter of factly, “A cliff.”

Dan confirmed that with a simple, “That’s right.”  He didn’t explain that the cliff is probably on a mountain and just left it for Cal to figure out… or not figure out.  Cal had already moved on and announced that India is close to China.

“Yep,” I said.  I didn’t know its exact proximity to China, but that sounded reasonable.

“Come to my room so I can show you on my globe, Mommy,” Cal insisted.  Sweet - he's using his globe!

I initially resisted in the interest of finishing getting myself ready for work as I was already running late.  Typical.  I found myself headed to Cal's room anyway because, well, my kid wanted to show me something interesting.  Cal was already there and had already turned his globe so that the India-Nepal-China side was facing us.  "See," he said, pointing to the three countries, which he could do with one finger because he was right -- India is close to China with only Nepal in between.  It was at this time that I noticed Nepal is a country and not a city in India.  I had a flashback to my days in college where I carried my sister through the Geography class we took together, and I questioned how that was.  Nepal is a country?

"You were right, Cal!" I exclaimed, completely sincere.  I had learned a little geography from my 5-year-old kid, which I'm sure won't be the last time.