K the oracle

During a playdate at a friend's house, we were asking the kids about animal noises when their daughter uttered an unfamiliar phrase: "I don't know."

The only time I hear "I don't know" come out of K's mouth is when he doesn't feel like answering questions like, "What did you do at school today?" (Which I consider to be an advanced usage of "I don't know" -- I didn't figure out how to evade annoying questions like that until I was much older.) Otherwise, if he doesn't know an answer, he confidently makes something up. Always has, from the moment he learned how to talk. If you ask him what animal goes, "Spoo, spoo," he'll look you straight in the eye and answer, "A boxicle!" I thought this was a toddler thing, but apparently not. Maybe it's genetic. My older brother is a bullshit artist extraordinaire.

I take advantage of this propensity of K's by getting him to make decisions for me. I think of this game as "K the oracle." I ask him a question he couldn't possibly understand and he will immediately give me a yes or no, or tell me which alternative to choose. And I do what he says. He's even better than a Magic 8 Ball because he never changes his mind or asks me to try again later.

So, K said we should put an offer on a different house and our inspection is this weekend. I know it'll work out this time because K the oracle told me so.