We were having lunch in the back yard. Mami, Q, JT and I (Papi) all sat around a table enjoying our spaghetti and sausage. JT (3) kept asking for more sausage. In general he’s been asking for more meat to eat these days--protein for a growing boy. Q (5) has been asking for more Papi time-- role modeling for a growing preschooler. 

 

Recently the boys had been into watching their DVD of the animated film Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. You may recall it’s the story of Manny the Mammoth, Sid the Sloth and Diego the Saber-toothed tiger and their discovery of a subterranean world of dinosaurs. 

 

This got us to talking about the usual stuff, “Are mammoth’s elephants? Who was the smallest dinosaur? And who is stronger Superman or the Hulk? Yea, the last one is kind of a tangent. But that is how my boy Q is thinking these days. He jumps from topic to topic and is always coming up with amazing questions.

 

While we were talking JT put a piece of spaghetti in his mouth. He let the ends of the spaghetti dangle out the corners.

 

“Look Papi,” he said. “Hey, you look like Diego,” I said. To which Q asked, “Why, Papi?” 

 

“He looks like Diego because Diego has long teeth like that.” I said. “No he doesn’t Papi,” Q said. I was a bit confused.

 

“Sure he does,” I said. “Diego has long teeth that come out the corners of his mouth.”

 

“Papi, he doesn’t have long teeth.” Q insisted.

 

“Ok son, “I instructed, “Maybe you think they’re tusks but they’re not. They’re long teeth that look like sabers. That’s why Diego is called saber-toothed tiger. Go look at the DVD box is you don’t believe me”

 

Q looked at me for a second before saying very slowly (as is to help me understand),

 

“Papi, Diego is not a saber-tooth.” 

 

“Go look at the box,” I repeated smugly. Q got up from the table and went into the house.

 

Sometime you just have to let children discover things for themselves. I figured Q and I could go round and round or he could discover for himself that he is mistaken.

 

A minute later Q came out waving the DVD box and proclaiming, “I told you he wasn’t a saber-tooth, Daddy.”

 

What? My world stopped for just a second. Not that this is such a big deal but I think I know a saber-toothed tiger when I see one. 

 

“See Papi,” Q said as he handed me the DVD box, “Diego isn’t a saber-tooth and he doesn’t have long teeth.” I took the box and saw that it was a copy of Go Diego Go, the cartoon series about Diego the boy animal rescuer who is also a friend of Dora the Explorer. And clearly this Diego was no saber-tooth.

 

We had a good laugh. Q found it extremely funny when he figured out that we each had our own “Diego” in mind. Yes, Q’s mind jumps from thing to thing but he is firmly planted when he gets there. Q was right. His Diego had no long saber-like teeth sticking out of the corner of his mouth. But Papi did have a little egg on his face.

 

--DiggyDaddy