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February 05, 2009

Yak, Yak

Tonight we were reading about how Sherpas live in Nepal, and I pointed to a picture of a large animal. "Do you know what that is?," I asked my son, expecting him to say "a cow."

"Yes, it's a yak," he said. He's four.

"A yak!?," I exclaimed. "That's right! How did you know that?"

He pointed to its horns: "the horns go back on its head. It's a yak."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do."

A little later we were saying good night. We have a tradition of each making up a new "don't let the ~ bite" each night, and this time I let him go first. I was wondering whether the yak would appear again.

"Good night, sleep tight, don't let the wildebeests bite," he said, giggling.

Edited to add: No, I don't think you can count on the horns. But it was certainly true of the yak in the picture.