Chlorophyll and Echinoderms

One day when I was in high school, I was walking with a friend to class when I asked if he was ready for the test we were about to take. "Test? What test?!" he said and then frantically spent the two minutes before the test scanning the headings in the chapter. After the test was over, my friend put his head down on the desk and then fell asleep. Our teacher walked by and hit the desk to wake him, all the while shaking his head and talking about students who don't "feel the need" to participate and how it would reflect in their grades.

The next day in class our teacher handed back our tests from highest to lowest scores making sure to point out which students managed to pull a 100%. He called the name of my friend first and did a double-take when he realized that the perfect paper belonged to the kid who he had already decided was "slacker" material.

Chipmunk reminds me a lot of this friend in the fact that he understands a lot more than he lets on. I realized this when he brought up a conversation with me over lunch.

Chipmunk: Mommy, did you know that plants suck in water through their roots and mix with sunlight to make chlorophyll?
Me: You're learning about chlorophyll, are you?
Chipmunk: Yeah. Plants make chlorophyll in their leaves.
Me: Yup. That's right.

Also, lately he's been playing with some old Koosh balls (remember those?) and dragging them around the house calling them his pet "sea urchins."

Me: Pet sea urchins?
Chipmunk: Yes, they're my pet sea urchins.
Me: So, no dogs, cats, or hamsters for you?
Chipmunk: Nope. I like sea urchins.
Me: What is it that you like so much about them?
Chipmunk: They have tube feet and lots of spines.

Sometimes he has literary conversations with his sister. This was their conversation the other day:

Chipmunk: Do you know what a "text-to-text connection" is?
Bear: Yeah. It has to do with when you're reading one book and you see how it says similar things in another book.
Chipmunk: Oh! I was wondering what that was. Like if you read something in a fiction book and you see it also in a non-fiction book?
Bear: Uh, I guess so.

Or our conversations in the car on the way back from a late night at church…

Chipmunk: I wish I had a bed in the car.
Matt: You do. It's called your car seat.
Chipmunk: No, like a real bed that you can activate when you're tired.
Me: (whispering to Matt) Did your son just say "activate?" Where did he pick up that word?
Matt: (shrugs shoulders)

There is just so much going on in his brain. I can't keep up.