It's going to be a busy year...

Went into the bookstore for some quality time before our birthday lunch at the local pho joint.
Dude walked up to to the "librarian" with a very serious question.
See, we were on a mission of sorts.
Ben had questions and mama had none of the answers.

It went something like this:
Do you have any books about ancient humans?
The ones that didn't have an alphabet or email and wrote messages with symbols and pictures inside of caves and on rock walls?

She turned to me and asked:
Is he just short?

I managed to discover, while cuddled up in the nonfiction section reading books on ancient Egypt, that today's Adventures in Art pirate show was about Hieroglyphics. He really is something else.

A few more examples of why you can't really say anything near him if you don't want him to repeat it endlessly, rolling it around in his mind, making it his own.

I give you one 40 minute commute to gymnastics..

Mama, is gelatin poisonous?
No sweetie, it isn't?
Then why did 'Y' say it's poisonous?  Our spiderman treats for my preschool birthday are gummy and he says they have poison.  If they have poison everyone in class will die!  Remember we watched the show about Asia's deadly snakes and the poisonous ones were deadly for sure!
Gelatin is not poisonous.  'Y' isn't allowed to eat it because it is a meat product and he is vegan but it is not poisonous.  Besides the spiderman treats are gummy from pectin which is a fruit product so even 'Y'  can have a pack.
Mama?  Why did 'Y's' mama tell him something that is wrong?

Moving on.

Mama?  Do you have any cultures? (I'm thinking Scottish?  German?  Where are we going with this.)
What do you mean sweetie?
You know, the active kind.
What do you mean sweetie?
So we can make yogurt mama!  You need milk and active culture to make yogurt.

Down the road we drove.

What is the meaning of affect mama.
A bit unclear I asked affect? infect?  Which one sweetie?
Not sure mama.
Like what will be the affect of kicking mama...
Ha!  A bruise!  Yeah, that one!
Why do you ask?
Amy said writing with makers will affect my blood.  Are markers poisonous? (hmm, back to death again I see)
No sweetie.  Your blood will be fine but your hands will be dirty!

And then there was the big one...
Mama, how exactly do babies come out of tummies?
Suffice to say that this one took up a good portion of the trip.
And yes we started with surgery but because I could not in fact say for sure that HE was born surgically when directly asked (and I also couldn't say for sure that his birth province had lots and lots of painkiller for surgery) I had to go a whole lot further.
Far enough in fact that he now knows HE can not carry a baby and give birth because he does not have the prerequisite parts.  This resulted in lots and lot of tears at the inequity of it all.
Oh my.

And today we are onto the whole ancient civilizations thing.

As he was drifting off to sleep on the eve of his Forth Birthday I asked him what he wanted to learn about while he was 4.

His response?
Everything I don't know mama.  It's going to be a busy year.