Talking to Animals

Today Julian went off to camp for a few days with his school. He was excited but Amanda was a bit worried that her baby boy was off to camp. We were looking at the schedule and tonight was the night he would walk into a pond full of piranhas. Maya assured me that the piranhas had their teeth removed and demonstrated on my arm what it would feel like if the fish bit me. It was a bit wet and slimy with a lot of gums but, thankfully, no teeth.

Tonight we were experiencing a city block power failure, which meant no Paddington bear on the CD, unlike the other nights of the year when Maya would ask for the same CD to be played night after night. Power outages we found out mean that everyone's house alarm system went off. So it was a bit annoying and strange to have no power. Peace out to all those nations that experience power rations on a regular basis.

So while they beeps and boops around the neighborhood waned, I tried reading Maya the rest of a really great book called Gangsta Granny. Before I started however, I was in the mood to ask her a really tough question to see how she'd handle it. Again, I was hoping to either throw her for a loop or test her imagination.

So I asked: "Maya, why do you think people have language and animals don't?".

She said: "Wow, dad, that is a really tricky question". I thought I had her. I was proud of myself. Heck this is the question that my lab tries to understand. Either I was going to stump my daughter or she was going to help me to solve it. She opted for the later.

She said, "Well dad, you know that our dog CeeCee talks to Grandma. I mean he barks at her and she knows what he wants." I was impressed.

Then, in usual Maya style, she took it further. "Well dad don't the monkeys at your work talk to you too?"

I said, "Sure".

She asked, "Do they go 'eeeee' 'eeeee' 'ooooo' 'oooo'?

I said, "Yes they do. Exactly, they talk to me by saying 'eeee' 'eeeee' 'oooo' 'oooo'".

So Maya said, "And when they say 'eeeee' 'eeeee' 'ooooo' that means they are trying to tell you that they made a poo poo". She was busting up laughing. I was laughing with her too.

Then she went further still, "But when they go 'eeeee' 'eeeee' 'ooooo' 'ooooo' that means they're trying to tell you they pumped (farted in Geordie) and poo'd".

Amazing. I'd tried to stump her and instead she discovered for herself that animals can communicate with us and that they might even have syntax. Don't know what to say really. I spend lectures trying to teach this material to students. Next time I'm just going to bring Maya to have them talk to her about it.