Boogies for brains!

My daughter came up to me this morning and said, "There is a boogie in my mouth." I asked her how it got there and she simply shrugged. It wasn't a shrug that seemed to suggest she wasn't sure, but more like she hadn't particularly bothered with that detail. That she hadn't really pieced all of that seemingly superfluous information together to tell the story of how she had arrived from point "A" to point "B". Essentially, going from a no "boogie" status to full on "boogie" status. Now, as a rational adult, I'm pretty sure I know how that "boogie" got there. I've seen where she gets them. In fact, I have told her on many occasions that boogies are actually tiny pieces of her brain that she is pulling out and that once they are out, the brain doesn't replace them. I figured that she would either find the idea of eating her own brain disgusting or the fear that she is somehow damaging her mental capacity both compelling arguments that might dissuade her from continuing the, uh, dig, excavation, drilling (choose your verb).
I should stop and say that I haven't given you the full and appropriate picture of my daughter yet. She is not simply a "boogie" aficionado with no other particular noteworthy traits. She is, in fact, quite amazing. Yes, I know, I'm a doting father and automatically lose my impartiality and that my opinions are going to be somewhat weighted, but I continuously find myself being surprised by how she reacts and responds to situations and the sheer capacity to learn that is packed into this 35 lbs three-year-old with light brown hair and blue eyes.
People have, on many occasions, approached me to share their observation of my daughter. Complete strangers offering their compliments to me for either my daughter's hair, outfit or simply how "smart" she is. I, like any other parent, swell with pride at their observations of her as I smile, agree and have my daughter respond with a well-timed, "Thank you," cute enough to soften the hardened heart of even an old cynic like me. To an outsider, I can see where she would be viewed as well behaved. In public she is often cute, polite and listens very well. That's another way of saying that I haven't dragged her through a store kicking, screaming and yelling...yet. Again with the impartiality, but her personality is quite magnetic. She is incurably stubborn, creatlively playful and routinely humorous. She has no fear, not even of the dark, and says exactly what is on her mind. All enviable traits in my opinion. Even though I believe her to be special and wondrous, I'm sure that we all feel that way about our children, and most likely, our parents believed that of us at some point in our lives as well. So I suppose the real question is; what the hell happened? Why aren't we the adorable, honest and inquisitive people that we once were?
There is no simple answer to that. None that I can pretend to see or share. Perhaps it is the price of admission to adulthood? Perhaps people who compliment my daughter are simply responding to something that they had to lose in order to fit in this world as an adult. We all had to trade eating dirt in the sandbox, glue in the art room or bugs in the backyard for swallowing pride at a loss, anger at our perceived problems or crap from another person. Life is the same game; we just play with different pieces now. On the other hand, I suppose if you forced a child into a sweat shop, required them to sew designer clothing and paid them minimally, they would be just as cynical and haggard as the rest of us. Far from the things that make them so special now. Which is quite simply to see the world for what it is, an amazingly large place with so many fantastic unknowns.
In the end, I realize that I am not adorable, cute, or cuddly and I most certainly can't get away with announcing to anyone with in ear shot that I have a "boogie in my mouth". I will certainly have to live vicariously through my daughter in that regard. Incapable of reaching back and becoming what I once was, and living my life as an adult complete with all the responsibilities, hang-ups and set backs that come with leaving the childish things behind.
Perhaps getting back to that innocence is impossible, but then again, I have seen a lot of adults, especially in traffic for some reason, digging for "boogies".
Maybe there is something to that boogie/brains theory I have.
Until next time, enjoy the pure random.