Looks like another case of mindreading took place at home yesterday, this time between me and my son, Travis. It was lunchtime and we were both in the kitchen. Travis was at the table with his back to me, playing with his Legos. I was puttering around the kitchen, lazily putting my lunch together.
As a switch from my usual drink, I poured myself a glass of milk. As I did, I thought about the milk in the coffee machine at my office. I get a latte from that machine each morning and I was thinking about a comment a coworker had once made to me that the milk in the machine was not skim milk, but 2% milk instead.
I turned around to pour the milk when Travis confidently announced “Daddy, that’s skim milk.”
Gulp!
I had not mentioned a word about milk; I had just grabbed it out of the fridge and started pouring. And I don’t even think Travis was watching me. Even if he was, though, he could not have possibly guessed that I was thinking about skim milk. We stopped mentioning skim milk years ago when the kids stopped drinking whole milk.
Just like the previous mindreading between Hallie and me, it seemed that Travis and I were both puttering around contentedly when he read my mind. I think that mood is important, perhaps because one lets one’s guard down. Or, it could be that both participants fall into sync when doing something they enjoy.
At any rate, I’m happy to see these curious events continue!