(no subject)

[rivka]

Sincere thanks to everyone who weighed in on Alex's question. It struck me as such an unusual question - not "what happened" but "who else thinks about what happened" - that I really wanted to get an answer for her. I wanted her to get a glimpse of the whole world of intellectual curiosity out there. So thanks especially to those of you who mentioned the other aspects of dinosaurs that you think about.

It's a weirdly meta question for a three-year-old, isn't it? I clarified it with her a couple of times, to make sure that she wasn't just asking for a recap of the meaning of "extinct" or the asteroid explanation. No. She really did want to know whether other people thought about the topic. I read her every response, and she enjoyed them.

Now my biggest problem is explaining to her that many people in our social circle - particularly her friends at school - don't have an LJ, and therefore haven't weighed in on her question.

So that we don't end on such a rarified note, let me share with you an unexpected simile she came up with in one of our other scientific conversations of the day: "So the colon is like a waiting room for poop, and the bladder is like a waiting room for pee."

That's my kid.

Comments

[redbird]

I think about it. Sometimes I think about complicated things like which dinosaurs died sooner, and how.

(Using a recent photo icon, because she may remember meeting me, and the purple hair might distract.)

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

Clever girl! She's wicked smart. I can't wait to see what she comes up with at 6 and at 9.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

This child is well on her way to becoming a Mad Scientist.

I approve.

[acceberskoorb.livejournal.com]

Lyn (lynsaurus) is out in Western Maryland without her computer, but I'm quite sure she'd want Alex to know that she thinks about how the dinosaurs died. She thinks about all kinds of dinosaur questions. She likes to go to museums and study books about dinosaurs to learn their proper names, where they lived and what their lives were like. When Lyn turned 30 years old, she had a fancy dinosaur cake at her birthday party. I think Lyn is awesome. :)

[tassie-gal.livejournal.com]

I wonder if I can someone get the waiting room for poop and pee comment into my next lot of exams....

[bosssio.livejournal.com]

just make sure she waves to the poopy, off to visit its poopy friends down the toilet...

3 year olds are insane. Isn't it great?

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Not only have I thought about it, I've just finished reading an entire book about how people figured out how life itself nearly went extinct 150 million years before the dinosaurs did.

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Let's see if this is the right photo.

Colons and whatnot

[hazelchaz]

She's ahead of me -- I didn't know that when I was her age. For that matter, I didn't know it when I was a teenager.