“Dad, what’s a trangle?”

“You mean a triangle?”

“I guess.”

“Well, it’s a shape with 3 sides …”

“What’s shape?”

“Um … what it looks like.  Where’d you hear about a triangle, anyway?”

“Miss Ellis is gonna bring one tomorrow.”

“Oh, your kindergarten teacher?”

“Yeah. We’re gonna learn to play it.”

“Oh, right. That’s cool. Did she show you a picture of one?”

“No, the bell rang.”

“Tell you what. Can you get your box of Tinker Toys?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to show you something.”

“You want to build Tinker Toys with me?”

“Well, maybe we can do that, but first, I want to show you something with three of the pieces. Okay?”

“Yeah. Be right back.”

… “Here, Dad.  You get the top off and I’ll dump ‘em.”

“Oka-ay. Here you go.”

“Wow. Oh, boy. I know what I’m gonna make.”

“Great. But first, we’re…”

“I’m gonna make a dog.”

“Danny, wait a minute, son. Remember what we were going to do?”

“What?”

“You tell me.”

“Uh. A fort?”

“Danny, what were we just talking about?”

“Dad, I wanna make a dog!”

“You can make a dog AFTER we make a …. ?    Okay, do you remember what Miss Ellis is going to bring tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“What?”

“A trangle.”

‘Right. And I was going to show you what one looks like. Right?”

“Right.”

“O—ka-ay. See these long pieces? They are all the same length, right?”

“Yep.”

“Okay. Some triangles have sides all the same length, like these. See?”

“Yep.”

“And some triangles have sides that are different from each other, like … this one.

Okay, now you pick three pieces and make one.  Hm—m, Danny, what are you doing?”

“Wait.”

“I’m waiting and I don’t think that’s a triangle.”

“Just wait, Dad.”

“uh huh. That’s a weird looking triangle.”

“Yep. Ha ha ha.”

“In fact, funny man, I think it looks like … “

“A dog! Know what his name is?”

“No. What?”

“Trangle!”

“You’re pretty funny, you know it?”

“Yep.”