Takin' a boat to China

So, last night Kevin and I wanted to take Finny to Chuck E. Cheese as a nice surprise. I decided that I wanted to make it a complete surprise and not tell him until we actually got there.

But, as we were getting ready, I thought I'd give him some hints and sort of talk it up. So I say, "So, do you want to go out Finny? Maybe get something to eat?"

And he says, "Yeah!"

So I say, "Okay, that sounds good. Where do you want to go?"

And he says, "China!"

I was a little confused. We'd never really tried to teach him the countries yet. Maybe he learned about China in school?

"I think China is a little too far. Anyplace else you'd like to go?"

"I want to go to China!"

So Kevin gets out a map and shows Finny where China is. "We live here," he said. "And China is waaaaay over here, across the ocean."

"We're gunna drive there!" Finny says.

"No," Kevin says. "It's too far away. See, this is the ocean. We can't drive across the ocean. It's water. We'd need a boat."

"We're gunna get a boat and go to China!" Finny says while riding in the car to go to Chuck E. Cheese.

"No, honey, we can't afford a boat, I'm sorry. It's too expensive," I say.

"We need more money?" Finny asks.

"Yeah," I say. "We don't have enough money."

"We gunna go to the store and buy more money?" Finny asks.

Kevin and I are laughing now, of course. "No, honey, you can't buy money at the store. It doesn't work that way. You have to get a job and earn more money. You want to get a job and earn some money?"

"No," Finny says. "I can't get a job. My knees hurt too much."

We were very sad to learn that, at age 2, Finny is already feeling the strains of a hard life and is ready to retire.

So after we're done at Chuck E. Cheese, Finny is skipping through the parking lot (holding my hand, of course) gleeful and exuberant of his time at the pizza place. "So," I ask. "Did you have fun at Chuck E. Cheese?"

"Yeah!" Finny squeals.

"Was it better than China after all?"

Finny is thoughtful for a moment. "No, not better than China," he answers.