This is not a chicken

Maybe Alex will be a surrealist painter, or maybe he's just got a taste for the absurd.

We were reading Maya her bedtime story, which consists of images of animals with the word for the animal underneath.

"Chickens, Maya, chickens," Alex said helpfully, however he was pointing to a duck. Maya nodded. "bla-gurh", she agreed.

"They're ducklings, sweetheart," I said, adding "but they do look like chickens!" to soften the blow.

Alex flashed me a 'not-to-be-outdone' look. We turned the page to a horse and a pig.

"Look, Maya, chickens!" Alex continued. I laughed and said, "Pig. Piggy. Oink oink." and "horse. Neeeiggghhh."

Maya, following her usual read-along babble, pointed to the pig and said "oo-ga" (or words to that effect.)

We turned the page. An owl and a tiger. "Chickens!" Alex exclaimed, pointing to one and then the other, "Chickens!"

He carried on this way for the rest of the book, until we came to the last animal, which was an actual... you guessed it... chicken. I paused, expecting him to come up with some other name for the chicken. He looked at me with a bemused smile."What's this one?" I asked.

Alex threw his hands up in the air. "Mum, how do you not know that's a CHICKEN!?"

He stroked Maya's head and told her soothingly, "Chicken, Maya, it's a chicken."