Random X

BJ learned the word "random" today -- overheard me telling BB, "Please don't forage for random bits of food on the floor!"

"What is random, Mommy?"
"Random is when there isn't a pattern or order."
I then went on to explain a bit about random numbers. I wasn't sure if he was getting it or not, and the conversation soon moved on to other things, so I soon forgot about it.

Then, later on this afternoon, he started lining up his numbers on the floor and giggling.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"Random numbers, Mommy!" And indeed they were.

Somehow this seemed especially appropriate given the fact that today he was "X." (The letter, not the Roman numeral. Though if asked, he will inform you that X can mean ten.) I kept thinking about algebraic equations today, as he laid out his random numbers and put together a Lego "house" for X.

This is his attempt to represent the They Might Be Giants video segment "I C U," in which the letter X sits on the couch and watches TV. The "couch" is where X is sitting. The square Lego is the TV. The two yellow Legos are the doors.

And the stack of narrow Legos next to the couch? When I asked, he told me without hesitation: "Those are the remotes, stacked up."

Of course. That's exactly what we do with our multiple remote controls when we watch a video on TV. We don't have cable, but watching something at our house requires the TV remote, the remote for the stereo to control the volume, and either the DVD or the VCR remote. They inevitably end up stacked up on top of 0ne another. It never fails to astonish me -- kids notice the most (seemingly) "random" details!