The beautiful machine

Awhile ago, Ro made some comments to me about the machines in his tummy being full and I started thinking that I should teach him a bit about how the body works. As we were leaving a store this weekend, I noticed a book that had a plastic model of the human body built into it and showed it to him. He was totally amazed and I gave him a brief run down (5 minutes) on the circulatory system and digestive system and went into bones and muscles a little bit. I was surprised at how interested he seemed. At dinner the other night, he was able to describe the digestive process. He couldn't remember the word "intestines" so he just drew zig-zag lines on his stomach. So, he now knows where poop comes from. He kept telling me to drink more water so I could go pee. It killed me. I was impressed that he remembered it even though I only spent about one minute per body system in a room filled with shoppers and kids racing RC cars around.

Yesterday, my mom picked up a bunch of body/anatomy books for him from the library and he was super intent on them. He just kept pointing at everything and was just bursting with curiosity.
Ro: What's this?
Me: Blood platelets. Blood looks like red paint but it really has all those squishy looking things floating around in it.
Ro: What's this?
Me: A uvula. It hangs down at the back of your mouth. Can you say uvula?
Ro: No
Ro: What's this?
Me: Stomach lining. Your stomach oozes special juices for mixing up food before it squeezes it into your intestines.
Ro: What's this?
And so on....
It's so hard to simplify answers for small children. He really, really liked the anatomy books though. I'll have to show him my Gray's.