All I Want For Christmas is a Robot Dinosaur

Story in the "Recorded for Posterity" File.  Throughout last year C, had a long and frequently changing list of Xmas requests which he recorded about once a month on scraps of paper.  Then in early Dec., he saw a robot dinosaur which immediately went to the top of the list--and stayed there through Xmas.  And he reminded us about its status regularly.

When the prize was not under the tree on Xmas morning at Oma and Opa's house, we reassured him that Santa always left large gifts back in NC and that the dinosaur might be waiting there.  Nevertheless, we were informed of his displeasure several times in the intervening week.  We returned to NC and Santa had indeed come through and delivered desirable dinosaur to our domicile.  Thank you Santa!  The next day, I untangled the 57 wires and strings used to harness the dinosaur to its box (after all, no one wants a dinosaur breaking loose and rampaging through the Concord Target!), put in about a dozen batteries, tested it, waited for C to return home from playing with his friends down the street. 

C returned, took the remote, got the dinosaur to respond to his commands, and called M and E.  M wasn't impressed or frightened and wandered off, secure in the knowledge that she could still create more mayhem than the dinosaur.  E was very excited and thought it would make a wonderful pet.  She wanted to pat its head and give it hugs, but it kept dodging away from her.  Which she thought was funny.  C got frustrated and turned it off.  I asked him what was wrong.  "It won't bite my sisters."  It hasn't been turned on since.  Come to think of it, I'm not sure what other uses there would be for a robot dinosaur, but I admit I hadn't thought of that purpose before Xmas.  I guess it's been too long since I've been a 9 year old boy.

So, let's all reflect on the moral of the story:  "Be careful what you wish for because it won't bite your sisters!"  ...Or is it:  "There's always next Christmas..."

Follow the Bouncing Ball

Was C's winning plan for the science fair.  He chose to test the hypothesis that the higher the place from which a ball is dropped, the higher it will bounce.  We looked up some info on the internet that explained that a ball gains energy from gravity as it falls, so balls that fall a greater distance have more energy to bounce back.  But they never bounce back as high as the point from which they were dropped because they lose energy when they hit the ground.

While at Oma and Opa's house at Xmas, we dropped a ball from three heights and measured the bounce.  C recorded the observations and averaged the measurements from the three trials at each height.  Once we returned home, C and T made a very colorful and clear display board.  C worked on answering questions he might get from the judges.  C took it to school on the first day back from break.

Then he never told us that he had won recognition for his project.  We saw his name listed in the weekly newsletter from the school last night and had to ask him about it this morning!  Today he brought home a certificate.  He gets to go on to the Regional Science fair to be held at UNC Charlotte in early Feb.

Good job, Colin!