Our Toddler the Inventor

While driving to day-care yesterday, our three-year old told me he wanted to play “The House Game”. The parameters of this game were rather fuzzy, at first, but it eventually became clear that he wanted to design imaginary houses with me.

I’m not sure where this idea came from, but by the third try, we had a rhythm. I’d ask him about some aspect of a house, he would answer, and when we had five or six details nailed down, I’d sum it up in a one-sentence description. This would elicit a big grin and a giggle, and he would shout “Again!”

On try number four, we got the following attributes:

  • Shape: Round
  • Color: Black
  • # of floors: “All the floors” (we’ll go with “really, really tall”)
  • # of windows: None!
  • # of doors: One, “and a secret one”
  • Roof: (paraphrasing for length) “A big orange light, like the sun, only it’s an eye”

Sauron’s castle. My son, who has never remotely been exposed to the Lord Of the Rings movies, just invented Sauron’s castle.

I am simultaneously fascinated and terrified…