It's in his genes...

A few months ago we watched Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It is the story of young Anakin Skywalker and how he eventually becomes Darth Vader (undeniably the best of the first three Star Wars movies). At the end of the movie there is a big fight scene over and through a river of lava.
Now granted, probably not the best movie to let a five year old watch, but he is so into Star Wars we thought it would be OK. Well, not surprisingly that scene started something here in the Anderson house. Since that movie Alec has been completely memorized with lava, volcanoes, magma, and how it gets to the crust of the earth. We have had endless discussions about volcanoes and how they work. Regardless, he is constantly worried that the floor of his bedroom is going to suddenly sprout a lava flow or that a volcano will pop up here on the eastern shore, or that somehow magma will find its way up through the road and burn us all.

To quell his fear we have had some really cool science discussions that would rival any of my intro-level geology courses in college. We have watched geysers on youTube, learned about the ring of fire, looked at extinct volcanoes, and talked about just how far away magma actually "lives". None-the-less, he is fixated on how hot lava is and how we could all be melted away at any moment.

In a last ditch effort I asked him if he wanted to hold some lava. After lots of reassurance that it would not be hot we high-tailed it over to Rite Aid and bought ourselves a Pumice stone.

You would have thought I just put the winning lotto ticket in his hands. He was psyched! He kept saying "But Mommy, it's NOT HOT!" We broke out one of the few geology books I actually hung onto and compared it to the photo of pumice.

He carried this stinkin' stone around with him all day talking about the little holes and how they got there, how hard it was (as in not a liquid), and how crazy it is that lava can be COOL (as in temperature)! Unbelievably this finally settled the notion that he would eventually be swallowed up in a hot pool of molten lava.

Maybe now we will not have to remove the volcano book every night before bed. It really is built right into his genes.

Happy Labor Day all!