We ended up talking a lot about Cause and Effect at dinner tonight, because we’ve been having a hard time getting the boys to do what they’re told. And all this time, we are doing super cool things. Scott has been working on Bean’s mini-bike with him… the parts just came in this week, and they were putting it all together. I’ve been doing pretty awesome fun projects with them. And they are being more defiant and disrespectful. So, we had to lay it all down tonight. It was cool, because Ben at least, was getting it. Sort of. Anyway, we’re trying to make sure they grow up to be kind and respectful. Sometimes we see great progress, and sometimes we are in an uphill battle. Classic parenting juggle, right?

Then Bean let out the biggest belch I’ve ever heard from a five-year old, and everyone started cracking up. My inspiration for Science Night! The Science of Burps and Farts. I love how it also was about Cause and Effect. Still on point. Darn, I love it when things just play out like this.

We started with an article that actually described what happens to create a burp. Keep it somewhat Scientific. Then we did a couple of YouTube videos, that were tutorials for how to Belch, and we were rolling laughing. Then we went for the Science of Farting article. And one or two YouTube videos of fabulous farts.

Then Ben went running into the kitchen for some milk, even though the tutorial clearly said you don’t need to drink anything to get a good burp going, and gulped it down real fast. He stood there for a minute trying, and turning red in the face, and then he let out a truly ridiculous belch. He was so proud of himself. He was beaming, and giggling and falling over, and hugging me he was so over the top.

We settled things down a bit with some stories, and then to make sure we had some sort of elegance in our Science, we pulled out a National Geographic I’d picked up specifically because of an article about Leonardo di Vinci. We checked out some of his inventions, and some models that have been made from his drawings. My boys have invention in their hearts and minds, and I try to give them every opportunity to fill their heads with wild ideas and brilliant examples.

And tonight we burped. It’s a balance thing, really.

Photo from here – and honestly, I feel bad. This is supposed to be a precious picture of a newborn and a mom, and I turned it into a “Pull my Finger” moment. Shame on me.