"Nasty, but So Cool"

The kids and I were all laying on the bed, trying to find something on TV to watch before bedtime. Despite the idiotic number of channels we have accessible to use, we were having a hard time finding anything worth wasting 30 minutes of our lives on. However, as we were flipping through the channels, trying to find something that all of us would enjoy, we came across In the Womb, on the National Geographic Channel. The best of all worlds! Babies, science, animals, and only 30 minutes left in the episode.

In the Womb, for those who do not know, is a series that explores animal growth and development in utero, using even better 4D technology that many of us have seen in 4D ultrasounds of our own children! Tonight's show focused on four animals, though we only saw two- the sharks and the kangaroos.

Just as an aside, this is truly what the kids chose to watch. At least it was once they realized that iCarly was not an option- ha! So, as we're sitting there watching, we're talking about the embryonic kangaroo and how it grows. We noted it has feet nearly 1/2 the length of its body at 20 weeks gestation; Taidhgin's theory makes sense, "Well, they do HOP all their lives. Their feet need to grow the most." We talked about how the joey nurses while inside its mother, as opposed to human babies who nurse outside, after they've been born.

We discussed pretty much every aspect of it development, including how funky a 20 week old joey looks without any hair and with skin so thin that you can see all of the veins underneath. It was during this discussion that Eibhlin winced a bit and turned her head. On the screen at this point was a closeup of the joey's head; you could see the eyes underneath the transparent lids and you could make out nearly all of the muscles through the pink skin. I asked Eibhlin why she kept looking back at the TV if she didn't like what was on there...Because, Mom, "it's nasty, but so cool."

Dr. Steele in the making? A mother can only hope...if nothing else, at least I know that my kids won't argue with me when I put on Discovery instead of Spongebob!