Brains and Stuff

ALARM CODE: When you have CJ in the house, "rest" assured, you willl never need an alarm clock. For instance, a few minutes before 6 this morning, CJ was peppering me with questions about the 30 lives code for "Contra" for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, circa 1987 (16 years before his birth).

I didn't even need to crack an eyelid to mutter "upupdowndownleftrightleftrightBAselectstart," saying it rapid fire-the realtime speed you need to enter the code in order for it to work. (I know such things because Rick and Ken played "Contra" a LOT when they were CJ's age.) He asked why the sequel "Super C" code for extra lives (Right, Left, Down, Up, A, B, then Start) only netted players 10 lives.

I told him some things we'll just never have answers for.

KITCHEN SESSION: Today is CJ & Bee's biggest bro Rick's bday (a quarter century - yikes!) He's not having his party (with his friends) until Saturday, so we didn't start his baked birthday goods until today.

He and a friend decided to have a '90s themed party. So Annabelle and I have been Photoshopping Rick and his friend's face into a bunch of 1990s movie photos. For instance, here's Rick in "Armageddon" (taking the place of Bruce Willis). For the cake, I decided to go with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme. Turtles were a HUGE deal in our household for a large part of the '90s, when Rick and Ken were growing up. (In fact, I'm sure I made more than a couple of Ninja Turtle cakes back in the '90s, but nothing like what we've got planned for 2010.)

Since Ninja Turtles looooove pizza, before we even get started on the cake, I decided we needed some little "pizzas" to go around it.


So, we made some circle cookies and topped them with fondant marbled in multi cheese colored fondant (with a little tomato sauce colored fondant thrown in for good measure). While CJ loves a good cheese pizza, most people like some other toppings, so the kids and I made a few dozen olive slices. I showed the kids how to pinch off a little black fondant, roll it into a tiny ball and then press it flat and poke a hole in the middle. I was impressed with how well they followed directions and executed those steps - it's hard to work that small.

They also helped make anchovies (which Turtles love) and pepperoni. They were very disciplined pastry chefs, not eating a single cookie. PENCIL, PAPER: The kids actually did a fair amount of school-y work today. They worked on another installment of their Halloween books they're writing. I'm so impressed with their creativity and storytelling!

They also completed their homework for the Highline (Seatac) science class with no trouble.

We took a math vacation today. :)

BRAIN DRAIN: This evening, we were watching "Becoming Human," a NOVA episode about evolution on PBS. CJ was rapt, and after a couple of minutes of trying to wrap his head around it he said, "First came the chimp then ... "

Christian stopped him there and told him that chimp-human relation isn't linear - it's a branch on the family tree, so to speak. We learned about the "fluorescence of species," all subtly different from each other (all biped, big snouts, chimp sized brains). We learned about the "suite of adaptations" that lasted millions of years and that .

At one point, the program showed real brain specimens from chimps and humans. Not long thereafter, it dawned on CJ that if someone's brain is on a plate in a lab, it means that someone is dead. "I am not going to donate my brain to science," he declared, a little teary eyed. And he implored Christian not to donate his brain, either.

So we had an organ donation conversation and talked about how it's not compulsory - it's something people decided individually. That seemed to settle CJ down a little. In fact, in a few minutes he came around and even mustered some excitement in saying, "I want a chimp brain and a Lucy brain, but I do not want someone in my family's brain."

When I told them we have a Jell-o mold to make our own jiggly brain (thanks Holly!), the kids got very excited.