Monday, April 21, 2008

a whale by any other name

According to Dory, speaking whale is easy. It's just a matter of learning the right dialect -- humpback, orca, beluga, whatever. Unfortunately (or perhaps I should say fortunately), the Middle Carrotstick has a little more than just the dialect to learn when speaking whale, or about whales.

One of his favorite computer games is a zoo simulator that lets you create your own zoo -- exhibits, kiosks, everything. You can make a zoo with normal zoo animals or you can add aquatic exhibits and even fantasy animals like the Loch Ness Monster and unicorns to your zoo.

During spring break he created a new zoo he was very proud of -- his two favorite exhibits were the Loch Ness Monster and the Sperm Whale exhibits. PB&J and I walked by as he was playing and he stopped us to tell us all about his newest zoo.

"Look," he said, "See right here? This is my sperm whale. Do you know how cool my sperm is? The sperm is such a fast swimmer. Did you know sperm can jump?" and on and on... in total innocence. (He hasn't asked, we haven't offered, and he hasn't been subjected to the torture of the Fifth Grade Maturation Program.)

PB&J and I were dying.

PB&J kept egging him on, asking him questions about his sperm whale as we tried to to trying contain our laughter.

Finally, PB&J clued him in on the importance of not abbreviating the sperm whale's very manly name. He listened to his dad, nodded, and went back to his zoo. No big deal.

Glad we got that cleared up. It's good to have your dad around at times like that.

Now, if you need a good laugh, read this post by The Pioneer Woman and make sure you listen to the audio clip of her little son asking for a juice box. It is great.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear! Good thing he wasn't around his cousin who HAS been through the fifth grade program as he has proven to be more than willing to share his new found knowledge with the uninformed- UGH!!! His other Aunt was so thrilled- as you can imagine and his mother and father (who ever those two are) were appalled!