Monday, April 18, 2011

Zombies and tongues

Jason: Can you dream or even think when you're dead?
Me: We don't know because...
Jason: [interrupting] That's right, because we're alive so we don't know what happens when you die. Babies know but when they get older they forget before they can tell anybody.
Me: Well, we...
Jason: [interrupting] But how would I tell you that I died? How would I talk to you [getting frustrated]
Me: Well, we...
Jason: [interrupting excitedly] That's right, we become undead zombies and then we rise up and talk. [maniacal laughter lasting awhile]
Me: No, that's definitely not what happens...

Sydney: How can we taste and talk with our tongues at the same time??
Me: Because our tongues have taste buds on them that work together with smell to let us taste foods. But the tongue is also a muscle, and the tongue touches different parts inside of your mouth when you make different sounds.
Sydney: Oh yeah! Like when I make a "T" sounds my tongue touches up here, cool!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Growing and breathing

Jason: How did the first tree grow, without a seed?
Me: We don't know. It is a mystery if the seed existed first, or the tree existed first. Some people ask that question about chickens: "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"
Jason: I wish I could have been there to see the first tree grow - then I would know the answer.

Sydney: How do people get the wind knocked out of them?
Me: If someone gets hit in their stomach very hard by something, then the air gets pushed up and squeezed up out of their lungs. It makes it hard to breathe for a minute or two.
Sydney: Yeah, it happened to me three times: in the summer when I fell 6 feet onto my belly at the park near Aunt Erin's house, once at school on the playground, and today when I banged my belly into the corner of the table at the Pizza place. It was really scary. What if I got the wind knocked out of me forever, and the air never came back?
Me: That's not what happens. The air always fills up your lungs again pretty quickly.