silly me for trying to reason with a psychotic child.

E-Niner was watching one of the deleted scenes from his Curious George movie DVD. In it, Ted (the Man in the Yellow Hat) has a nightmare.

E-NINER: I’m just Ted.

ME: Are you saying that because you had a bad dream?

E-NINER: Yeah. I had a bad parking lot dream. [Actually, Ted was having a "bad parking lot dream."]

ME: I think you’re remembering your bad fish dream.

E-NINER: That wasn’t a dream. I had fish right in front of my face!

ME: It was a dream. That didn’t really happen.

E-NINER (adamant): Yes, it did! There was a whale right by the ceiling!

ME: E-Niner, think about it. Fish need water to live. Our house doesn’t have water in it like that.

He considered the thought. Maybe I was getting to him.

E-NINER: I know fish need water.

ME: Then how could they have been swimming in front of your face?

E-NINER: Magic, mom. Because of magic.

And then he went off, clicking together his toy flowers, “pretending” to be Ted.