Finally! Chicken & Egg Mystery Solved!

Mr. Know-It-All-TwinBoyB and his twin, Mr. Know-It-All-TwinBoyA

My twin boys have reached that magical age where they know everything. I figure this stage probably lasts until they are well into their college years. As a reasonably intelligent 39-year old woman, I regard their superior knowledge with great hilarity.

Last night at the dinner table, they explained to me that God created two eggs and that's how we got chickens. He didn't create just one egg, or two male eggs, or two female eggs, but a male and a female eggs so chickens would result. Always playing the Devil's Advocate, I said, "Well, maybe God created the chicken and the chicken laid the eggs?" They dismissed my folly without even a pause. Their knowledge was unshaken.

A couple of weeks ago, they were explaining HIV to me. They were learning about AIDS at school. I was probing to see what they were being taught and said, "So, how do you catch HIV or AIDS?" And one of them answered with a twinge of disdain, "You don't catch it! You just have it!"

This morning, while we were staring at the tea kettle, waiting for its whistle, TwinBoyB remarked that he wanted to see the "vapor." I said, "Well, look, there's the steam now!" And he said, "No, Mom, you can't see steam. You can only see vapor. Steam is invisible."

I started to argue, then stopped myself. What is the point in pointing out fact to a kid who already knows it all?

It's going to be a long decade.