Talk and Tell: March 27, 2012

The following is a copy of James' Talk and Tell that he dictated to me this morning for school tomorrow. Just so you know, although my son is a genius (of course) he had some help with his extraordinary bug knowledge. We have a book about bugs entitled "Bugs A to Z." When he started talking about bugs (when he brought up the bug book, you'll see) he got this book out. He was flipping through it, looking at the pictures, and telling me all about the bugs he saw (from what he could remember; I wouldn't help him or add anything). He remembered quite a bit of stuff! He is quite fond of this book lately and gets pretty excited about all of the AWESOME bugs. (!!) Well, until he has nightmares about scary bugs... grr. :( Anyway, here's the excerpt. It's kind of long. He got just a little bit carried away. Bugs do that to the best of us...

Warning: Not all information below is accurate. :) But hey, he's four.

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Talk and Tell - March 27, 2012

I have a rocketship spaceshuttle. And I've got two monster trucks. And I've got tire goo. And I've got two blue transformers. My friend Kona's got a big, yellow transformer. And Kona's got a big, big, big, big, BIG airplane toy. And Kona's got lots and lots of 'Maginext. And I've got a book about bugs.

Ants have pinchers instead of teeth. And if you bug a bee, it might be mean to you if you try to hurt its house. But it'll leave you alone if you just let it do its jobs. Dragonflies. I've seen a dragonfly before. And some other bugs eat poop (Dung Beetles). They eat animal poop. Then they roll it up in the dirt, and then they eat it. Fireflies: They can light up in the dark at night. Some worms can light... On the backs of some worms, they can light up at dark at night. And some other bugs have wings that are made of leaves (false). But the humans, they think it looks like BIG animal eyes, but it's just a kind of bug. Inchworms go "eh-er-eh-er-eh-er" (showing movement with hands). Some bugs can sing like a cricket, and it rubs its wings together at night. One bug is called a Mantis, and it can eat a one BIG bug like a frog. A Rhinoceros Beetle is the biggest bug and also the strongest bug, and it can carry a whole BIGGER bug. One spider (a Tarantula) can live everywhere, even in the dirt.

Scorpions, they have a big stinger on their tail. And they go "whhhishhh-pee" (whipping sound), and it stings you. Becca's sister Dena had scorpions in bed when she was little, and she was playing with them. And she got hurt. And they've got pinchers for their hands.

Named: Scorpions.

Xerces Blue Butterflies. They've been seen by their blue wings. And they've been EXTINCT. Water Striders, they are spiders that can walk on water, with their big legs to walk. Wasps look like bees, but they're not bees. They're jacket wasps. Some are jacket wasps, but some are just black wasps. Zebra Spiders.

I like bugs.

And some butterflies are black and blue.

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Aaaaand, that's it. Kinda fun. And, you know, educational! ;)

PS. James says these pictures are for Uncle Bart because he's a scientist. We talked about that this morning. I told him that scientists like to learn about the world and the stuff in it. (Bart, I told him that you were a scientist that learned about our bodies. Hope that's acceptable.) I told James that someday he could be a scientist and learn all about bugs. He said no, that he wants to be an astronaut. But then he thought that maybe he could be an astronaut and learn about bugs that live in outer space! We decided that was a spectacular idea.