Cars don’t have accidents

So a little background for this “kids say the darndest things” moment that brought Knut and I to tears with laughter:

When I was growing up, we drove around in a gold Chevette that we named “Betsy.” I know. What’s with me and naming machines? I think that I had a coloring book about a ballerina named Betsy, and I thought she was so beautiful, and that’s where we got the name for the gold Chevette. When we (Knut and I) had our Sebring, she was certainly not a “Betsy” and Knut never let me name her. 🙁 But when we got our minivan, I started calling her Betsy.

On a side note, the kids wanted to name Knut’s work truck too, and I thought of “Clifford” because it’s big and red. Knut gave a big thumbs down on that one.

So as we go around town, we look for our “Betsy” in the parking lot, and Betsy sometimes goes fast or slow. The kids like to talk about Betsy.

This evening we were at a small group meeting from people from church, and left at a time that was late for all the kids, so they were a bit tired and foggy. It was, of course, dark out, and they didn’t like that the lights inside the car were turned off when we were driving. After David continually whined about this, I said:

“David, you don’t want Betsy to have an accident do you?”
“No.”
“Well, we can’t keep the lights on inside the car when we’re driving because it’s not safe. Betsy could get in an accident.”

He thought about that, and then said “Yeah, we don’t want Betsy to go potty all over the road and make a big mess!”

Knut and I shamelessly laughed over this for quite some time. Poor David. Finally, I explained that cars don’t go potty. When they get in an accident, it’s like a crash.

“But mommy, do they leak a little when they crash?”
“Not usually.” (more muffled laughter)
“But, how do cars go potty?”
“They don’t David.”

Ah…kids are awesome.