Welcome to the Abbott & Costello hour. That’s apparently where I live.

My house is full of discoveries these days. Both of the kids are learning new things constantly. I feel left out. It’s not that I know all there is to know but . . . I’ve already learned the fun stuff. It’s all downhill after puberty.

Kaitlyn, on the other hand, is learning the fun stuff. She’s discovering language and learning how to read. I admit it’s a little heartbreaking to know that she no longer actually needs me to read to her at bedtime. We still read together. But I think she’s humoring me.

She’s old enough now to be able to understand some of the true children’s literary classics. We read Matilda recently. She loved it. We’re delving into more complex, longer stories with a deeper emotional core. I think I’ll try the Pippi Longstockings books next. How often is a little girl portrayed as all-powerful and strong? Not often. I think it would be a good lesson for her. That boys aren’t the only ones who can fly and beat up bad guys.

Today, however, she was really playing with the language. When she came home she had a reading assignment for school. It was the usual school text drudge designed to make kids learn the sounds and word order rather than try to accomplish anything with the written word.

However, today it was her first attempt at dealing with a “saying.”

The story was about some kid who goes fishing with her grandpa. When she questions his wisdom he tells her, “Don’t worry. I know what’s what.”

Kaitlyn stops. “What’s what," she asked. "Isn’t what what? I mean, what iswhat.

“That’s true,” I said. “But it’s a saying.”

“What’s a saying?”

“Well, it’s when people take a phrase to mean something else. Like, ‘that’s the way the cookie crumbles.’ It doesn’t have anything to do with what you’re doing, but it means the same thing.”

“So,” she asks, “her grandpa know what and it is the same as what?”

“I think,” I replied, “he means he knows what he’s doing. That for him it’s obvious.”

“Oh. Why didn’t he just say ‘I know what I’m doing’? It makes much more sense. And if I don’t understand the question then the little girl won’t.”

“True, but it’s just a saying.”

“But it doesn’t make sense.”

“I know, but not everything always makes sense. You’ll understand that some day.”

“I do. You never make sense,” she replied.

Well . . . I thought . . . I guess that’s that. Crap.