Complementary abilities and word retrieval

I drive the boys home, a pal and my son, the very verbal and the not so much so.

A match made in heaven.

They are as different as chalk and cheese but they share the same label.

They have little in common yet they are a perfect foil for one another. Mine is a head taller yet a year younger, but I’m not really interested in chronology or inches. I watch them in the corner of the rear view mirror. My son examines the inside of his pal's ear, the one closest to him, both pal and ear, that is to say.

“Your ear……” he fizzles out.
“What about my ear?” he asks looking straight ahead. My son sticks his finger tip in his friend's ear, tentatively.
“Don't do that, you'll make me deaf and then I won't be able to hear ever again,” he responds factually, without reproach.
“Oh.”
“You know you should never put your fingers in your ears, it's bad to put your fingers in your ears, even if it's really noisy you should never put your fingers in your ears,” he explains with authority.
“Oh.”
“You see these bits? These bits of your “ear” here?”
“Dey are be calllllled 'lobes.'”
“Yeah, right. If you take your lobes and stuff em in your ear holes, that's dangerous too. It could stop you from hearing forever. You shouldn't do it o.k. or you'll go deaf.”
“Oh.”
“So don't do it right? Don't stick your fingers in your ears or you'll bust the bit inside and then you'll be deaf for ever and ever.”
“Dah inside is being dah 'drum.'”
“Yeah, that's right. So don't bust it.”
“Oh.”
“Do you know what else happens if you bust your ears?”
“No.”
“You'll fall over coz you'll break the balance bit in your ear.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, you have this thing in your ear, like when you spin round and round and it kindof makes you dizzy, you'll break that bit and then you'll fall over all the time.”
“Dat is be dah cochlea, curly. It be looks like a snail.”
“Yeah, like that guy next door in 4th Grade, he's got a cochlea implant.”

A car honks close by. Both boys cover their ears with their palms in the same instant and duck in unison.

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Posted on February 14th, 2008.
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32 Comments

  1. kristina:
    February 14th, 2008 at 11:40 pm

    But don’t let them onto _loebs_……….

  2. kristina:
    February 14th, 2008 at 11:54 pm

    I was thinking of a certain type of Classics book—-and also of the lobes of the brain!

  3. Elissa:
    February 15th, 2008 at 12:51 am

    Definitely no stuffing lobes in ears!!
    (I love it!) xx

  4. Veronica:
    February 15th, 2008 at 2:20 am

    I love his authority on the matter, however I found as I was reading it, I started playing with my ears and blocking and unblocking them.

    Yes, I’m strange.

  5. Casdok:
    February 15th, 2008 at 2:51 am

    Very witty! I must tell C all this!
    Not that he will listen!

  6. birchsprite:
    February 15th, 2008 at 3:36 am

    Friends are great!

  7. Suzy Pafka:
    February 15th, 2008 at 4:46 am

    I am just astounded at their conversations and your ability with your writing to put us right there in the car- in the back seat with them, and I wish I were. The conversations are fascinating.

    They are very bright- they do have the whole idea of the ear down pat.

    Hysterical converstion in some ways-a lesson we could all use-”Don’t cut your ear lobes off and stuff them in your ears or it will stop you from hearing forever.”

    Love you, your writing and your kids.

    Suzy

  8. A Bishops wife:
    February 15th, 2008 at 4:48 am

    I will have to remember to NOT stick my fingers in my ears! Funny.

  9. Leanne:
    February 15th, 2008 at 5:50 am

    I felt like I was right there listening to them. What a conversation!

  10. CircusKelli:
    February 15th, 2008 at 6:34 am

    Hee hee! I once heard the only thing you should put in your ears are your elbows. :)

  11. Debi:
    February 15th, 2008 at 7:07 am

    ha circuskelli, me too. This is a precious exchange! Aren’t kids great together?!

  12. Kristie:
    February 15th, 2008 at 7:22 am

    I love it. My favorite part is about not cutting your lobes off and putting them in your ears.

  13. Mr. Bloggerific Himself:
    February 15th, 2008 at 7:25 am

    *thinks a little cramming of Rock N Roll into the ear now and then does a body good*

  14. mommy~dearest:
    February 15th, 2008 at 7:30 am

    Lovely fellow! Now you know which friend to enlist for “the birds and the bees talk!” haha!

  15. Angela:
    February 15th, 2008 at 7:34 am

    LOL!!! Where can WE find a friend like that?

  16. Niksmom:
    February 15th, 2008 at 10:44 am

    I love the certitude of the friend and your son’s anatomical discourse! LOL

    Guess neither of them would ever use ear plugs,eh?

  17. hammer:
    February 15th, 2008 at 10:57 am

    They sound like true experts!

  18. Crystal Jigsaw:
    February 15th, 2008 at 12:33 pm

    I think you have a couple of doctors in the making!

    Crystal xx

  19. corky:
    February 15th, 2008 at 1:00 pm

    LOL! Funny ending. ;)

  20. lime:
    February 15th, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    you know the knowledge of the anatomy, terms and functions both, is really quite impressive! i bet most of their non-autistic peers don’t know that much.

  21. Karen:
    February 15th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Wonderful story–you’re right, they’re the perfect complement to each other!

    BTW, thanks for sharing that link to the video about autism the other day. It was incredibly moving. I’m going to have my kids watch it today.

  22. riseoutofme:
    February 15th, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    What a gem!

    Out of the mouths of babes …

    I remember clearing the excess wax out of my ears with a hairclip … Yikes!

    Thank you for the award … but being a complete technophobe I’m NEVER going to be able to put it up on site …

  23. Erika:
    February 15th, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    Don’t you wonder who told him he would go deaf? That is pretty clever.

  24. tut-tut:
    February 15th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

    They absolutely know quite a lot, don’t they?

  25. Melissa:
    February 15th, 2008 at 5:43 pm

    Wow… I don’t think that I could identify that many parts of an ear… :)

  26. chrisd:
    February 15th, 2008 at 5:57 pm

    Wow-he’s one smart kid! Takes after mom…

  27. Angela:
    February 15th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

    Nice information.
    They do know it all don’t they

  28. Lisa's Chaos:
    February 15th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

    Such good advice. I promise I will never ever put my lobes in my ears again cuz I want to continue to hear. :)

  29. Kassiane:
    February 15th, 2008 at 9:15 pm

    I thought he was talking about FOLDING your lobes up into your ears. I can do that. I do it frequently & hear waaaaaaay too well….

  30. Chris H:
    February 15th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

    I’m over my hissy fit, DIET COKE ROCKS is back!

  31. Stomper Girl:
    February 16th, 2008 at 8:13 pm

    Ha! Lucky you witnessed all this or you’d have been wondering why your son was such an expert on self-inflicted deafness suddenly.

  32. Dara:
    February 22nd, 2008 at 8:07 pm

    Cutest story I’ve read in awhile. Although I am now a little perturbed that I can’t even fit my lobes into my ears, even when I try :(