Since we adopted a green anole lizard that leaped onto the hood of our truck , it’s brought out the inner biologists in our daughters.
They have each started a notebook with copious notes about our lizard, Cricket.
The notes read like this:
Observation #1: Turns colors.
Observation #2: Licks leaves.
Observation # 3: Calm.
Observation #4: Still calm.
Observation #5: Very still.
Lizard observation time is usually accompanied by shouts of “How to you spell CALMEST?” and “Look, he’s turning brown!”
I’m fairly certain that Cricket at this point is the single most observed lizard in the Hill Country.
I’m all for science, but I have to admit that after a while it’s a little tough to continue to greet these observations with ongoing enthusiasm. After the 15th shout about the shade of brown the lizard is changing into, I’m pretty much out of encouragement.
How did Einstein’s mom do it? I can just see little Al Einstein, going on and on about time and how it’s all relative. Did his mother think to herself – “Fine, fine, but don’t you think it’s TIME to pick up your socks, hmmm?”
I can just hear Isaac Newton’s mom calling to her son from across the yard. “Isaac! What are you doing under that tree? You want an apple to conk you on your head or something? Go out and get some exercise for goodness sake!”
Galileo’s mom probably stayed up all night waiting for her son to come inside. “You expect me to believe you just looked at the stars all night? Honestly, you act like you’re the center of the universe or something.”
Surely Marie Curie’s mom was a little irritated about all the test tubes all over. “What are you saving all of these for? Some of these things are glowing! Are you reading in bed again?”
I wonder - did Jane Goodall’s mother ever bite her tongue when she was about to say “Monkeys? Enough monkeys! Where are my grandchildren?”
Probably not. I’m sure these mommies of science’s greatest minds just smiled at their precocious children as they typed up their research papers and washed out test tubes.
By the way, the photo above is Mommy Marie Curie and the kiddo on the right, Irene Curie ALSO won the Nobel prize.
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