Noah and the Impervious Neanderthals

3 minutes in the car tonight with my son Noah. A verbatim transcript.

"Dad, did you know that they are not going to launch the Space Shuttle anymore?"
"No I hadn't heard that."
"Yes, it is being retired. They are building a new ship that is impervious to heat, in order to fly to Mars."
Silence. Did he just say impervious?
How many 10 year olds know the word impervious?
"They want to build it within the next three years."
I want to ask him how he knows this but I'm afraid to.
Some deer are in a field next to the road.
"Oh. Hey look at all those deer! Did you see them?"
Noah looks around. "Yeah I see them."
"There were four of them. Did you see all four? One of them had horns," I say.
Silence.
"Dad, deer don't have horns, they're called antlers."
"Oops. My mistake." How embarrassing.
Silence.
We drive up to our house.
"Hey Noah, remember this time last year they were building our house?"
"I remember."
"And we were living in the rental house. Do you remember the rent house?"
Silence. He furrows his brow and frowns.
"I don't want to remember the rent house," he says very seriously.
"Why not?"
"Because I had to share a room with that Neanderthal named Hannah Potts."
Ah, yes. I also had a Neanderthal sibling. A terrible thing to deal with. I want to assure him that Neanderthals do get better over time, but he'll find that out for himself.
Interesting what one can learn by spending a few short minutes in the car with a child!