What is Real

Keahi has been driving me crazy with all his questions about simple and complex things. They flow out of him like obscenities out of some of our distant neighbors. And you can't quickly brush off his questions because he'll keep coming at you till you satisfy him. We've talked about why vikings killed people, the difference between tornados, whirlwinds, and hurricanes, and explored the fascinating world of what is bigger than what. His newest kick has been to ask about really simple things like, "Mommy, what is a plane?" of "Mommy, what is the ocean?" At first I was confused by his new fascination with asking questions he already knew the answer to and tried to tell him he knew what a plane or the ocean was. But that just frustrated him and he insisted he didn't know. So when he asked me what a dog was I started to describe its physical aspects. He joined in with me and added that what we were describing also sounded like a cat. So I tried to be more specific. When we'd covered what it looked like he looked at me and asked, "But what IS a dog?" Are you kidding me. Is my kid asking me to define dogginess? Should I delve into Plato's ideas of Forms or something? Or how all the words we use are arbitrary and we might as well call a dog a cat or a ball? So I've a budding philosopher in the family who every day makes me justify why a bridge is a bridge and why not all his questions need to be answered in depth. What's next?