June 19, 2003 - Thursday
"What did he call that?" asked the model train man.
"A cupola," I answered behind Harry's back.

Old fashioned cabooses have cupolas on top so that the flagman could see to the rear of his train and so the conductor could look out and see the trainyard in the mornings. Harry learned this in a book about trains a couple of weeks ago and, not surprisingly with Harry, it is a fact that he has easily retained and even extrapolated to the similar outcroppings atop buildings. But, it is clearly a precocious word for a three-year-old and one that is typical Harry, said articulately and with confidence. When we took Harry and Jeremy to visit a small model railroad exhibition at our local library and Harry pointed to the cupola atop the model caboose, he got a double take from one of the exhibitors.

"Cupola! And did he shave this morning?" he quipped.


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