When Mary Claire was little, she would talk about a movie or TV show being wet or dry. Kathy and I couldn’t figure out what she was talking about, so we had to get translator Kelly to figure it out. (Older siblings are useful for this.) Kelly went through a list of shows and had Mary Claire tell her which were wet and which were dry. Mary Claire had an immediate answer for each one.

Kelly finally deduced that cartoons are “wet” and shows with real people are “dry”. It was obvious once she figured it out, although I’m not sure why.

Tonight at dinner (some 5 years later) Claire wondered why herself. She decided that she must have thought pouring water in the TV would make some shows colorful cartoons and when the TV dried out, real people would show up. Kelly immediately dismissed this as the reason. I said, “Claire would have a better glimpse into what she thought as a kid than you would.”

“I suppose,” said Kelly, who probably really thought I was all wet.