Conversations over Dinner

As our kids have gotten older and their schedules more complex, dinnertime has become a much needed and enjoyable time to reconnect with them. As both boys have sharp memories and keen minds, the conversations have become increasingly diverse and complex.  We've discussed (well, okay, the guys did) the results of C's latest math test, history, chemistry, botany, cooking, etc.  Last night was not one of those times:

E:  Hey, what happened to that preschool by your mom's house?  Part of it was demolished; I saw one of those big, construction machines out front.
C:  It's a back hoe...
E:  You would think I'd remember that by now, considering I see them used all the time.
C:  ...As opposed to a front hoe.
Me:  Or a ho-ho.
E:  Like the Hostess ones wearing a Robin Hood hat.
C:  Ho-hos are mostly used near the Poles.  There are high-hos.
Me:  And hidy hos.
T:  Or tally hos.

Some discussion, instigated and mostly participated in by E, followed regarding whether or not anyone with the last name Ho would actually give any of their children names such as "Tally" or "High".  He decided that "hidy" spelled "Heidi" would be the most appropriate. By this time, the eating part of dinner was over and they were rolling tiny magnetic balls around the table and manipulating them into shapes; it must be a testosterone-driven thing because as much as I find the shapes they create interesting, I have no burning desire to try it myself. Yet another opportunity for intelligent conversation:

E:  You know, a whole bunch of these little balls could be stuck together to make a chain mail shirt.
C:  It would be too heavy, it wouldn't stay together.
Me:  A magnetic "chain mail" bolero jacket then.
E:  Or a chain mail bikini!
Me:  Maybe just the bikini top.
T:  Because the bottom would chafe...*silence around the table*...Well, that's what I heard!

With this kind of meaningful discourse, who needs dessert?  :-)