Girls aren't allowed in San Diego

Geography is an interesting concept to teach a child. We told Sven, we live in Seattle. But when we travel, we would say things like "we're going home to Seattle", so now he thinks our house is "Selattle."

Then, I tried to teach him about Washington State, and showed him a map of Washington, and pointed to a spot along Puget Sound and told him that is Seattle. I am not sure if he understands, but he now correctly identifies a drawing of our state as a map of Washington.

Recently, Erik and I have taken some business trips to San Diego. Traditionally, when Erik or I travel, we call home each evening and talk to Sven. The first night I was in San Diego, Sven said "Girls aren't allowed in San Diego." I responded that girls were indeed allowed in San Diego, and I had to work there for a few days. This week, Erik went to San Diego and Sven told Erik "Boys are allowed in San Diego." However, during Erik's daily calls home, Sven seemed frustrated that Daddy insisted on talking on the phone and didn't come home. He wanted to know why Dad didn't appear in our kitchen when he asked. So, I tried to show him San Diego on a large map of the USA to try and convey distance to him. I showed him Washington and Seattle, then California and San Diego, and told him that Daddy had to fly on an airplane to get home. It didn't make him any happier about the lack of Daddy, and I am not sure if he has any better concept of distances.

Yesterday, while we were driving to the airport to pick up Erik, Sven said "We have to go back to France". I said "maybe we will in the future, but not today", and Sven responded "we have to go back to France, now!"

Sigh - some concepts are just hard to explain. And this is a kid who has been over the Atlantic and back 4 times.