July 24, 2004 - Saturday
This is pretty classic:
Harry has decided he likes hamburgers, particularly from McDonalds where he has had one the last four or five times he's been there (over the last few months). I can't recall that he's ever finished a whole one, but he'll typically eat about half. He ordered a hamburger this past Thursday when, because mommy had to stay late at work, I ended up taking he and Jeremy to a "special dinner." Since I didn't have cash I told Harry we couldn't go to McDonalds for the hamburger he said he wanted and suggested instead that we go to the Outback, a familiar place known for its macaroni and cheese. Harry insisted on a hamburger and so we found an Applebees (at which, incidentally, the boys were wonderfully well behaved, gaining compliments on the way out from an on-looking woman). Although Harry got a hamburger, he didn't eat all that much of it because, as I understood at the time, the burger was overcooked and didn't taste good.

Yesterday after we drove to Vermont for another weekend vacation and this evening we went out to another special dinner. Harry wanted another hamburger so we choose a rather informal bar & grill and all seemed good. But, then the hamburger came. It came in a little plastic basket with a pickle and fries and with the top half of the hamburger bun neatly placed slightly to the side to show the fine burger in typical a bar & grill presentation.

"I don't like *that* part on the hamburger," Harry said immediately, pointing straight down at the burger.
"What part, Harry?" I asked looking for some onions or other garnish that might have come with an adult hamburger (this bar & grill didn't have a children's menu).
"That black part," he said insistently.
"Do you mean the hamburger?"
"No, that part of the hamburger!"
"You mean this part right here?"
"Yeah, I don't like that part."
"Harry, that *is* the hamburger. The bread part is just the bun."
"I don't like that on the hamburger."
"Harry, if you don't have that part, you don't have a hamburger. That part is the hamburger."
"I don't like it."
"Harry, you've always like meat."
"I don't like it."

Harry eventually tried a little of the meat, but not much and I'm not sure he ever really understood what I was talking about. Amazingly, his given his frame of reference for hamburgers - McDonalds - he had no idea there was anything but the bun there.


Comments, Opinions?