Biology and Civics

8:30am. On our way to art camp it dawns on me that rather than dreading the big schlep across town, this 20 minute drive is excellent monkey conversation time.

We begin with biology. Every sentence starts the same way. "Mama, what would happen if ...?" This morning Sam wants to know what would happen if he drank a whole swimming pool full of water. This leads to hydration vs. dehydration. I'm a little obsessed with the benefits of keeping one's body well hydrated. So I explain that the best way to know if they are drinking enough water is by the color of their pee. Pale, almost invisible mixed with toilet water is ideal. That means your body has plenty of fluid to flush the toxins out. So conversely, really dark pee means your body should have much more water. Since we have done several projects recently involving food coloring, I asked them to think about how one drop of dye in a huge bowl of water would tint the water just a little bit, while a drop in a tiny cup of water would make a much darker color.


Then they wanted to know how long Obama gets to be president. I explained term limits. I explained that if it goes really well, then the vice president might get the next turn. Sam put it together quickly. He said that if the president has a lot of stuff to do, if he needs to go out and has a bunch of errands and he doesn't have enough time, then the vice president would go out and do those errands and bring back whatever stuff the president needs. I love that Sam thinks about how people can be helpful to each other. And I love --having just watched the first season of Veep, which was hilarious--the image of the VP going out to pick up the president's dry cleaning surrounded by the fleet of secret service cars.