More proof of my maternal unworthiness.

Kids ask lots of questions. Sometimes it gets tiring, even annoying. Sometimes I make up the answers.

One of Isaac's favorite questions to ask is what things do. For example, yesterday we were driving to mom's house, and he said, "Mom, what do cars do?" I know that he means "How does a car work, who invented cars, what makes them move, why do we have to put gas in them, etc etc etc". So I make up a story about how internal combustion engines work and usually try to throw in some kind of moral to the story, like how hybrid cars are better for the environment and cheaper in the long run.

At some point, probably long ago, Isaac asked me what moths "do". When he wasn't satisfied with my answer of "Eat, sleep and poop", he said, "No, mom, what do they DO?"

Apparently, I then said, "They suck out your brains." This had to be more than a year ago, and he didn't mention it until last night.

We were walking out of my parents' house, it was dark, and there were moths flying around the porch light. He started running and screaming. I said, "What the heck, Isaac, what's wrong?" (Side note: Is it ok to say "What the heck" to a kid?) He said, "They are going to suck out my brain!!!" It took me fifteen minutes in the car to calm him down enough so we could drive home. When we got home, we googled "moth" and I showed him that moths don't suck people's brains out. But I couldn't resist saying, "The kind of moths that suck people's brains out only live in central North America."

"Mom, do we live close to central North America?"