Beagles and Balloons and Snot-Nosed Kids

Yesterday we went to the playground and the kiddo played with two boys, both of whom had slightly runny noses. As the kiddo was sitting across from one boy on the horizontal tire swing, he told me, right in front of the kid, "Look how much MUCUS that kid has in his nose, Mommy!" I ignored him the first time, so he said it louder a second time. Heh. I told him that's kids for ya, and also that the kiddo himself has been known to have a runny nose.

Also, as we were driving past the condo complex across the street, we noticed that their humongous balloon (which says "CONDO SALE") that's been up for a couple of weeks is starting to sag and sink. The kiddo asked why it was sinking. In keeping with our usual meandering conversational style, I told the kiddo that when certain things get left out in the sun and weather a lot, they sometimes start to get worn out and get little holes in them (like our drapes -- yuck!), and when a balloon gets worn out and gets little holes in it, the helium (I also explained helium) starts to leak out and the balloon can't stay up as easily.

Later, I was feeling him out to see if he'd want to meet Dorothy's friend, J., with me sometime, and I mentioned that I'd taken care of J.'s beagle for a week many years ago. The kiddo asked where the beagle was now, and I told him it had died. He asked why it died, and I said it just got really, really old and worn out and it was time for it to go to doggie heaven, where it wouldn't be worn out any more and it could play with all the other dogs there.

The kiddo thought about it and asked, "Did someone leave the beagle out in the sun for a long time?"