Turn 196 of 233

Expose Kimo to more stimuli and explain things to him. Explore the town we live in with him for this reason. I also start watching sports with him and explain what's going on. Football, basketball, hockey, boxing, mma, doesn't matter.

Lena takes Kimo into the city on Saturday morning and the morning is the thing that is the walking and the walking is the thing that is the exploring. She carries him on her shoulder and the shoulder is the thing that is 790 pounds holding 188 pounds and the holding is the thing that is easy because the pressing is 680 and the 680 is the thing that makes 188 feel like a backpack. They walk downtown and the downtown is the thing that has the buildings and the buildings are the thing Lena talks about.

"See that one?" she says, pointing at the bank tower.

"Steel frame. Wide-flange columns, fourteen inches. The curtain wall is glass and aluminum. The frame carries the load. The skin doesn't carry anything — it just keeps the weather out. The foundation is a mat slab, probably two feet thick, sitting on piles driven into bedrock."

Kimo looks up and the looking is the thing that is the sixty stories and the sixty stories is the thing he tries to see the top of and the trying makes him lean back in Lena's arms.

"Piles go deep," he says. "Piles hold up. Hold up big building. Building very tall, Mama. How tall?"

"About eight hundred feet."

"Eight hundred," Kimo says. "Eight hundred feet up. Mama, who put it there?"

"Crews like Mama's crew. Ironworkers. Crane operators. They bolted the steel together floor by floor."

They walk to the river and the river is the thing that has the bridge and the bridge is the thing Lena explains — the trusses, the deck, the expansion joints, the way the concrete moves when the temperature changes. Kimo crouches on the riverbank and puts his hand in the water and the water is the thing that is the cold and the cold is the thing he pulls back from.

"Water cold," he says. "Why river cold? Sun warm. Sun not warm river?"

"The river is deep. The sun warms the top but the bottom stays cold. Water holds temperature differently than air."

"Differently," Kimo says. The word is the thing he rolls around in his mouth like a stone.

"Air warm. Water cold. Different. Mama, fish live in cold? Fish like cold?"

"Some do. Fish are cold-blooded. Their bodies match the water."

"Fish not warm-blood like Mama?"

"No. Mammals are warm-blooded. Fish are cold-blooded."

"Mama warm. Kimo warm. Fish cold." He nods and the nodding is the thing that is the sorting and the sorting is the thing he does with categories now — warm and cold, heavy and light, tall and short, Mama and not-Mama.

Sunday is football and the football is the thing that is the screen and the screen is the thing Lena props against the balcony wall. Kimo sits on the concrete beside her and the concrete is the thing that is their seats and the seats are the thing that is the floor. Lena watches the offensive line and the watching is the thing she does with her notebook and the notebook is the thing that has the stance notes and the leverage notes. But now the watching is also the explaining.

"See the left tackle?" she says. "He's in a three-point stance. Hand down, feet staggered. His job is to protect the quarterback's blind side. The quarterback is looking right, so the left side is the side he can't see. The tackle has to hold the edge."

"Hold edge," Kimo says. "Edge is outside. Outside is where the fast man comes. Fast man wants quarterback. Tackle stop fast man."

"Exactly. And see how he drops his hips on the pass rush? Same thing Mama does on the site when she's lifting a wall — get low, get leverage, use your base."

"Mama is tackle," Kimo says. "Mama hold edge."

Lena laughs and the laugh is the thing that is the real and the real is the thing that fills the balcony. She switches to basketball and the basketball is the thing that is the screen and the screen is the thing that changes.

"See the center? He's boxing out. He puts his body between the other player and the basket so the other player can't get the rebound. He uses his hips and his back. It's leverage again. Same principle."

"Same principle," Kimo says. "Leverage. Hips and back. Like Mama lift wall. Like tackle hold edge. All same."

"All same," Lena says.

They watch hockey and the hockey is the thing that is the fast and the fast is the thing Kimo tracks with his whole body — leaning into the screen, his hands gripping the concrete, his feet pushing against the floor as though he could skate. Lena explains the checking and the checking is the thing that is the body and the body is the thing she knows.

"That's a hip check," she says. "He uses his hip as a pivot point and sends the other player into the boards. It's all about where you put your center of mass."

"Center of mass," Kimo says. "Where is Mama center of mass?"

"Lower than most people. Because I'm heavy and the weight is in my hips and legs. That's why I'm hard to move."

"Mama hard to move," Kimo says. "Like building. Building hard to move. Building has foundation. Mama has foundation."

Monday is boxing and the boxing is the thing that is the heavy bag and the heavy bag is the thing Lena sets up on the balcony — a hundred-pound bag hanging from the steel rack. She shows Kimo the jab and the jab is the thing that is the straight and the straight is the thing she explains as the kinetic chain.

"Power starts in the feet. Goes through the legs. Through the hips. Through the shoulder. Through the arm. Into the fist. Every joint adds to it. It's a chain."

"Chain," Kimo says. "Like wire. Wire carry power. Chain carry power too. Different power. Mama power, wire power, same? Different?"

Lena stops and the stopping is the thing that is the thinking. The boy is asking whether the word power means the same thing in electrical wiring and in a boxing punch and the asking is the thing that is the abstraction and the abstraction is the thing that is the language and the language is the thing that is the growing.

"Same word, different meaning," she says. "That's called a homonym. Power in wire is electricity. Power in a punch is force. Same word. Different thing."

"Homonym," Kimo says. "Same word, different. Power and power. Mama, more homonym?"

"Bank — a place for money, and bank — the side of a river. We saw a river bank yesterday."

"Bank and bank!" Kimo says. "River bank, money bank. Same word, different. Homonym." He picks up his crayon and draws a river and a building side by side. He writes nothing because he cannot write, but he labels them aloud: "River bank. Money bank. Same. Different."

The weeks fold and the folding is the thing that is the routine. Lena narrates the city — the storm drains, the traffic lights, the rebar in the sidewalk, the expansion joints in the overpass. She narrates the sports — the zone defense, the power play, the southpaw stance, the ground game. Kimo absorbs and the absorbing is the thing that is the accumulating and the accumulating is the thing that shows up in his drawings and his sentences and the questions that now come in chains of three and four, each one building on the answer to the last, each one reaching for the thing that is the next.