Listening comprehension

My son tried to fly out of a tree in his geocopter. He scraped himself up pretty badly. To keep him lying down until the biggest scrape stopped bleeding — lying quietly, without whining — I piped the latest RadioLab podcast through the stereo. Have you listened to that one? It's about parasites. It's fascinating. Some scientists claim severe allergies will disappear if one gets hookworm.

Anyway, my 7-year-old listened, entranced, to the whole RadioLab podcast. I quizzed him about it afterward. "The parasitic wasp stung the cockroach in the stomach and then it was able to control the cockroach," he said. "Just like the rat in Ratatouille! It laid its eggs inside the cockroach, and the eggs hatched and ate the cockroach from the inside. It was still alive! Then the babies burst out of its head and it died."

"What excellent listening comprehension," I said. "You understand what you hear."

"Yes, I do." He looked thoughtful. "I don't understand when people are talking to me, though."

"You don't understand people when they talk directly to you?"

"Right. Like when I'm in trouble. I never understand what you're saying."

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I'm thinking I ought to record some of my lectures so I can play them on the iPod when needed. Like the one about not jumping out of trees while harnessed to a cardboard-and-duct tape geocopter.



The propeller actually works quite well. We flew it off the balcony and it hovered for awhile before dropping. It doesn't hover while he's harnessed to it, though. Picture taken about 8pm — when all inspiration strikes.