You had to be there

My apologies for another math-related story so soon, but that's apparently what's on the agenda around here lately. Listen in on this morning's conversation between the 8-year-old Mr. Math and the 6-year-old Miss I-won't-be-outdone.

Levi (after hearing that you can multiply larger numbers easily by multiplying the first numbers and then adding the zeros): "So, 60 times 60 is, 3600?"

Mom (struggling, in the bathroom, to get the blond girls' hair into ponytails before church): "Yes."

Levi: "And so, 80 times 60 is...4800? And 90 times 90 is....8100?!"

Mom: Yep.

Levi (turning to Delaney, who is ready to go and waiting patiently): "Delaney, what's 90 times 90?"

Delaney: "I don't even know what 'times' means."

Levi: Okay, it's like, 2 times 2 means, take two, two times."

Delaney: "Four."

Levi: "Right. And 2 times 3 means take 2, three times. Or take 7, 3 times, is 7 times 3. Or you can take 21, divide it by 3, and that' s 7."

Delaney: "I don't even know what divide means."

Levi: "Division is easy. You just take the bigger number and figure out how many times the little number takes to get there. Like, 12 divided by 3...count by 3's until you get to 12."

Delaney: "3, 6....9....12!"

Levi: "Good. So what's 12 divided by 3?"

Delaney: "12?"

Levi: "No. Four."

Delaney (immediately, in pure form, putting a quick end to further math instruction, starts singing a song from The Jungle Book movie they had watched earlier in the week): "Look for the, bare necessities, the simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife....yeah man!"