SOBUS OR SOBEY’S?

“Hey, wait for me!” says the tiny voice of my 2 ½-year-old jogging companion behind me.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot about you,” I say with my laughing face.
He speeds up and runs past me.
“Hey, wait for me!” I mimic his voice.
He stops and laughs and takes my hand as we go on with our three-block journey.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Sobey’s.” He confidently points to the right direction. This morning is only the second time we’re going to Sobey’s, and he remembers the location, direction, vocabulary, and the sticker given at the check-out.
“Look! Crack, puddle, birds, crabapples, boat, paint, spout…” He points and names familiar objects; otherwise he asks for their names.
“Train!” He points to a passing bus.
“Bus.”
“No, train!”
“A train is longer. It was a bus. You’ll see a train next time.”
He pauses, processing new information in his developing brain.
“So was it a train or a bus?”
“Bus.”
“Where are we going again?”
“Sobus.”
Pause. We both start thinking while I try not to laugh.
“Sobus or Sobey’s?”
He smiles sheepishly. I give him a hug.
4 September 2016