Say what?

I figured communication problems with my son wouldn't come until the teenage years. I've heard about the grunts and snorts that replace true language skills once boys hit pubescence. But last night, my 4th grader and I had a conversation (one sided, all HIM) that left me stumped and a little scared. As he snuggled up against me in his fuzzy pajamas, he said, "Mom, can I tell you something?" "Sure!" I replied, thinking he was going to share some nugget about his school day.

"Well, did you know that the Toa Metru left Metru Nui with six of the Matoran spheres? Along the way they ran into the monstrous sea Rahi and powerful Krahli under the command of an Onu-Matoran named Mavrah."

My side of this conversation: "Duh????"

My son has become well versed in Bionicle-speak. Familiar with Bionicles? They are strange creatures brought to you by your friends at LEGO. They look like a cross between those cheesy animated skeletons from the old Jason and the Argonauts movie and that hideous Predator from the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie of the same name (My favorite line from that movie is when the predator removes his protective mask revealing a face only a mommy predator could love. Arnold replies "You're one ugly motherf*cker!" You ROCK Arnold!)

But I digress. The Bionicles prove that the happy go lucky folks at LEGO have been taking too many business trips to Amsterdam. These creatures could only have been conceived in a hash-fueled haze ("Sven, pass the brownies, I'm having an epiphany about the Keelerak!"

Prior to this Christmas my 4th grader had about 6 or 7 of these creatures. He would put them together, then complain when his younger brother pulled them apart and reassembled the parts into different creatures (And they STILL LOOKED THE SAME TO ME!)

Then I made the mistake of asking my mother-in-law to purchase a BIONICLE ENCYLOPEDIA for him for Christmas.
I figured why not combine his love of Bionicles with his love of reading!

So now, as we cuddle before bedtime, my head is spinning with information about Metro Noo-Noos or whatever they are (Hee Hee! Metro Noo Noo...Sounds like slang for urban vagina!)

Thank God my younger son and I can still bond over good old GI Joe kicking the shit out of his nemesis Cobra!