from my 4 year old:

-Paylentologists didn't discover roots, they discovered dinosaurs.

-Gardeners discovered roots.

-When snails make bubbles, it means they are tooting.

-Snails don't like sprinklers. (don't ask! lol)

-A rollie pollie cannot see the color yellow.

-A rollie pollie can see the color blue. It's their favorite color.

-Rollie pollies like to ride on bikes.

-Rollie pollies make good pets. (Dad is seeking more scientific information on that one.)

-Rollie pollies like to go to the grocery store. (This mommy was adamant that it would NOT accompany us to the grocery store! LOL)

He will probably come up with more facts tomorrow. We were outside doing a bit of yard work and will try to finish up tomorrow. Can't wait to hear what I'll *learn* tomorrow!

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 08:10 am:

Cute!

By Imamommyx4 on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 10:41 am:

The things they come up with are just too funny.

By Pamt on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 06:21 pm:

He's very wise. You can also tell him that rollie pollies like to go to church. I know this from personal experience because I filled my purse up with them and took them to play with in church. I have pictures to this day.

By Enchens on Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - 11:21 pm:

ROFL, Pamt!

He actually brought his "pet" up to his room and was playing hide n seek with it. Well, needless to say, it got lost. He was crying at bedtime because it still hadn't appeared and he didn't want his little rollie pollie to be sad, cold, lonely, and hungry. My poor little boy. I did cuddle with him for a while and reassured him that the rollie pollie would show up.

By Mrsheidi on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 12:00 pm:

OHMYGOODNESSSS!!! You guys are cracking me up!!! I guess our time is just around the corner.
That is just so cute...

By Cat on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 12:13 pm:

At least he didn't suggest going out and getting MORE rollie pollies to let loose in his room so the one wouldn't be lonely. *eg* Your budding scientist sounds like a hoot!

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 01:50 pm:

You have to watch out for those budding scientists. Here's my story.

My oldest was very interested in insects from about age 3, when he discovered goggygoobers (caterpillars - he had some speech problems for a while). I still have a vivid memory of waking up around 3:00 a.m., when he was about 14, to a sound of a window opening and closing, pad pad pad of feet, window open & close, etc. I slept on the 3rd floor and he was on the 2nd floor. I went down and asked what was going on. Turns out he had brought in a couple of praying mantis egg cases (it was mid-winter) and hadn't thought ahead to the fact that they'd hatch out in the warmth. So he was gathering up the hatched out baby praying mantises and tossing them out the window. I told him to put a towel under his door so they'd not get out of his room, and went back to bed. I actually did go back to sleep.

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 02:39 pm:

Oh no, Ginny! That's all you needed in your house! Didn't he realize that poor mantises were going to die, in the cold? Although, he probably couldn't really keep them in his room forever, either. Were they in a jar, or just on his desk or dresser?

By Ginny~moderator on Thursday, March 13, 2008 - 06:10 pm:

Just set down somewhere in his room. This son has never been big on neatness. Yes, he knew they would die in the cold, but it was January or February, and there was no way he was going to keep a colony of mantises in the house until warm weather. Not to mention that most of them would be eaten by their sibs - that's what mantises do.

We've had mantises, a mouse that got loose (a "pet") plus the occasional non-pet mouse, a snake that got out of the cage, and raised some Monarch butterflies from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly. Par for the course when you raise a son who has a strong interest in nature.

When we moved to our house in Germantown he discovered that there were snakes (grass snakes) to be found on the grounds of an historical house nearby, which is why we had a few snakes. He showed neighbors' kids where to find the snakes, but the neighbor moms weren't up to snakes, so we boarded the other kids snakes. Every day we'd have a kid or two at the door, asking to visit with "my snake". Amazingly, my son knew which snake was whose - or at least the other kids believed him when he said so.

And Scott, when he moved back "home", brought two corn snakes, a really big and really ugly African frog, and a small colony of mice (some of whom were intended to be dinner for the snakes and frog - don't ask), plus the dog and cat. We are now down to a dog, a cat, and 3 surviving (and neutered) mice - a 4th mouse died recently.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 12:47 am:

Wow. That's cool. We had a milkweed plant and I saw a caterpillar once. I should have brought it in the house. I never saw it again, so I never knew if it really became a butterfly or not! The milkweed stopped growing there now. Bummer. It had just randomly happened, there for a few years.

By Ginny~moderator on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 05:40 am:

If you have milkweed, the only caterpillars that eat milkweed are Monarch caterpillars. If you look in a field where there are weeds you may find milkweed and can transplant it. The problem is, there are fewer and fewer Monarchs, and having milkweed is no guarantee of Monarchs. Interestingly, they migrate, and their winter home is only one area in South American valley forests - which are being logged or cleared indiscriminately and in the most efficient (i.e., most harmful) way possible. A lot of the logging is done by wide-spread burning.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 07:38 am:

I knew all that, about monarch caterpillars. I'm sad that they are wrecking monarch habitat, in Mexico, too. Milkweed plants make pretty pink flowers, too.

By Dana on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 08:00 am:

Do any of you ladies remember "Lisa Lizard?" I posted our saga of our homebound lizard when we were at M2M I think. My daughter and I fed and watered a typically "outdoor" lizard. I had even taken lots of photos. We posted online when Lisa took ill. She got better and lived quite a bit longer. She died after about a year. Which is way longer than I think a lizard would live outside. I actually missed Lisa when she was gone. She hung out on our window seal and under the huge TV. We would see her basking in the sun that hit the carpet next to the tv.

Snakes and rollie pollies don't sound like pets I would enjoy.

We've done the butterflies often. Getting ready to do it at my playroom too.

By Tayjar on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 02:02 pm:

Ginny - there is a town a few miles from mine where the monarchs stop on their migration. Friends of ours have a farm and they have thousands of butterflies each spring stop by their farm.

By Bellajoe on Friday, March 14, 2008 - 03:03 pm:

Nancy, your ds sounds adorable.

Oh and I about cried when you said you were doing yard work. I looked out my window and saw still about 1/2 foot of snow.
Not that I like yard work, but it sounds nice a warm right about now.

By Dramamamma on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - 02:10 pm:

Rollie Pollies (aka as doodlebugs around here) were what Brendan called his "sister" for the first time. lol...