First comes walking, then talking, then talking incessantly – all important milestones.

For some parents, though, the shining moment is when your 5-year-old finally has to concede a rhetorical point. Or maybe that’s just me.

Big Guy would debate a tree if that were the only partner handy. It’s not that he’s necessarily argumentative – OK, sometimes it is. It’s that he’s relentlessly curious, as well as relentlessly relentless.

He has exacting standards for accuracy. He once argued that the sky isn’t blue and at that particular moment, as a far-away wild fire belched smoke, he had a point.

He’s also a stickler for logic. “Why did you tell brother to put on his shoes and socks? He can’t put his shoes on first. That just doesn’t make sense. Starting saying ‘socks and shoes’.”

He also has a thirst for learning and a questioning mind, hence the never ending “why” and “but how do you know” queries.

After roughly five minutes of the latter, I can put a stop to the string by responding “How do you know an elephant won’t fall out of the sky and land on your head? You don’t know for sure, but you know it probably won’t happen.” One of these days, Dumbo’s going to land on Big Guy and goof that one up for me.

He also loves to root out injustices, particularly the ones that hit him personally. That was how our exchange started Monday, as the dreaded ice-cream truck rumbled up the street for the second day in a row.

“Ice cream! Ice cream! Can we have ice cream?”

“Not today. You just ate cookies.”

“I wouldn’t have if I’d known the ice-cream truck was coming.”

“But you did.”

That’s when he really wound up.

“That’s no fair! You never get me what I want. Never, ever, ever.”

Dramatic exaggeration is the downfall of many a debater. I had him this time.

“Really?” I asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Yes, really. Never, ever, ever.”

“Didn’t we just get back from Target?”

“Yes,” he replied, still not seeing the trap.

“And where are the Hot Wheels we just bought?”

“Um, in the kitchen.” He knew now he was on shaky ground.

“So it’s really not true to say I never, ever, ever get you what you want, is it?”

“Umm …”

“You got the Hot Wheels, but you’re not getting the ice cream right now. Just admit it: Sometimes you do get what you want. Sometimes you don’t.”

“But …” At least he was grinning.

“But I have a point. You know that,” I smiled.

“Do not!”

I left it go, because at least he was smiling. I knew that was as close as I was going to get to a concession.

Copyright 2009 Debra Legg. All rights reserved.

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