Mailboxes and Mail

It's exciting for Ian to leave our compound fenced-in yard and see what's waiting in the little steel treasure box mailbox.

He was upset with me this morning when I drove by to put a piece of mail in it from the window of the car.

"MOM! What are you doing? I wanted to walk to get the mail with you. Can I see please?" He immediately queried me from the back seat.

Our conversation became a lesson in how the mail works.

Me: "Well, Ian, I just put mail IN the box, we haven't got any new mail yet."

Ian: "Did you put the flag up? So the mailman knows to get the letter?"

Me: "Yes, I did!"

Ian: "So now the mailman will come get it and then put it in the other person's hand?"

Me: "Hmm. Sort of. Sometimes, the mailman puts it in their mailbox, just like we get mail in ours."

Ian: "Or on the ground."

Me: "No, mailmen don't put mail on the ground, it might blow away or go to someone else's house. That's why there are mailboxes for each person...so they know where to find their own mail."

(Don't wonder why I explain things in so much detail. I have learned to just go for it right off. This tends to leave less room for playing 10,000 questions after short answers anyway).

Ian: "No, no, no. A mailbox on the grooooound." (He drags words out when trying to make a point. Why is this so built in to human beings?).

Me: (Laughing). "Mailboxes are up on posts so that when the mailman drives by in his truck he can reach it. Or, when the people go to check their mail, they can just take it out of the box."

Ian: "MOM," he sighs an exasperated sigh, "I am a LITTLE person. Little people have mailboxes on the ground, because I can reach the little mailbox on the ground. They put it in the ground mailbox."

Me: (Laughing hysterically). "Ok, Ian!"

Ian: "Don't laugh at me, Mom. Being a little person is NOT funny."

Oh, but it is, Ian. It is. :)