“Why do I have to be clean?”
Preschooler, on bath night: “Why do I have to be clean?” Mother: “To stay healthy.” Preschooler: “Why?” Mother, hoping to move things along to a place…
“Why do pale people get more moles?” (Caterpickles consults the dermatologist)
The first time I went in for my now-annual skin check, the dermatologist found three moles that looked funny. So I had them taken off. My four-year-old was fascinated by this entire process, asking me countless questions about why people should have their skin checked, what the doctor is looking for, the difference between freckles and moles, and of course, whether it’s true pale people get more moles (not necessarily).
“Could a T. Rex lift a woolly mammoth?”
When my daughter first asked me if a T. Rex could lift a woolly mammoth, the answer seemed obvious: No. They lived in two completely different time periods. But what if time were no obstacle?
In which my daughter channels Mary Poppins
The Four-Year-Old: “Mommyo, can I give the cats their medicine? I can do it all by myself. I even know the song: ‘Just a spoonful of…
Science News Roundup: Raptors, Ammonites and Preschoolers, Oh My!
New dinosaur found in North America, another penguin makes headlines, and other news of the week
“What is a dormouse, and how did it get its name?”
Last night during storytime, my daughter listened patiently to an entire page of Under the Harvest Moon by Stella Gurney before interrupting my husband with a question. “What’s a dormouse, and how did it get its name?”
“How long will it take for my wishbone to fossilize?”
A week or two ago there was a heated scene in our kitchen between my daughter and her father regarding the future of a rather extraordinary (in my daughter’s opinion) wishbone extracted from a rather ordinary (in her father’s opinion) rotisserie chicken. My daughter wanted to add the wishbone to her collection. My husband objected. “Bones have no place in this house. Unless they are fossils.” Wait for it… “Daddyo, how long will it take for my wishbone to fossilize?”
Questions That Are Better Than Their Answers
Every once in a while my daughter asks a question that is much more interesting than its answer. But while the answers to these questions are…
“Can it rain cats and dogs, Mommyo?”
The Four-Year-Old, on the afternoon of the third of three very rainy days: “Can it rain cats and dogs, Mommyo?”
Mother, tired after fielding an unusually active bout of questioning and trying out a new strategy of tossing one of those questions back at the preschooler: “I don’t know, can it?”
The Four-Year-Old: “No, that’s silly. I just wanted to test you.”
Science News Roundup: Old School Printing
A modern hand-drawn Bible, inventor of ebooks dies, and an award Eric Carle hasn’t won yet.
CATERPICKLES 