Dinosaur Chat

Recently, Abigail’s preschool class has been studying a unit on dinosaurs. While we are impressed with how much she has learned about these animals, the concept of “extinct” seems to have eluded her, at least so far. How do I know this? Just listen in on the conversation we had today at our lunch table. My, my.

A: Mommy, sometime can I buy a Triceratops in dinosaur land?

M: What???

A: I would like to buy a Triceratops, because I’ve never done that before.

M: And what exactly do you suppose you would do with a Triceratops?

A: Well, I could take him on a little walk, and teach him how to play. That would be fun.

M: MmmHmmm. And where would this dinosaur live?

A: Oh, he can live in our backyard. That’d be good.

M: Oh.

Jonathan (Jumping into this interesting conversation): Could I buy one sometimes too, Mommy? That will be fun.

A: Actually, I think the Triceratops would be lonely so we should get a Mommy and a baby. Then they will be happy together.

(By this point, Mommy is speechless, but is thinking quietly to herself that the pony Mark Dishman keeps promising to send us to keep in our backyard sounds really good!!)

Abigail on Seeing God

A few minutes before sunset, I was driving in the car with Abigail and Jonathan. The sunroof was open so the kids could enjoy the clouds, which were starting to light up. Abigail suddenly piped up:

A: I saw God peeking out! Yeah, yeah, I saw God peeking out from the sky, from heaven. He looked like Jesus. And He’s really big… He was really bigger than you, Dad! I saw Him by the strings.

(Editorial comment: it is my guess that “the strings” referred to power lines.)

J: (intervening into this little monologue by asking her one of her standard catechism questions) Abigail, can you see God?

A: No.

J: But…

A: But He always sees me… but I saw God. I’ve never seen God before. He gave me a special treat. I got to see Him. That was fun!

(Snip much more dialogue on the topic that I can’t remember… Abigail was quite excited.)

Then, returning home at night, more dialogue, with a few more choice quotes:

A: Dad, can you see God?

J: No, because God is a spirit and has not a body like man.

A: I can’t see God either, because it is dark.

J: That’s nice, honey.

The Prayers of a Righteous Lassie…

I’ve been hesitant to introduce this topic into blogdom, due to the potential for some challenging questions from our faithful readers. However, we have found it funny enough that we’ve decided to share.

There has been a recurring theme in Abigail’s conversations with us as well as her prayers over the last several days. I think her offering before this morning’s breakfast should give you a general idea of the types of requests being brought before both her mother and father and our good Lord.

(and I quote):
“Dear God, thank you for this day and for making the whole earth. And please, please, please bring me a baby sister, because we have two boys and only one girl. And I really want a sister. So please bring me a sister. But if not, please give us twins. So, please either bring us a sister or twins. Amen.”

Our Teeny Ballerina

IMG_1521_small.jpg

What fun it was to watch Abigail’s performance in her second ballet recital. In addition to Jay and I, Grammy and Grandy Horne, Nana Brunone, and Aunt Sandy came to see Abigail dance.

After taking ballet for just a few short months last year at our community center, Abigail begged us this year to “get to go back to dancing class”. After some searching (most schools aren’t accepting new students in March) we were able to enroll her for the last 2 1/2 months of the school year at Tuzer Ballet, where she was in a small class of little girls taking 45 minutes of ballet and 15 minutes of tap. To say she enjoyed herself is putting it quite mildly! While it is highly enjoyable for her to attend, we also know the exercise and dancing movement is great for her physically and it is exciting to us to watch her engage in something she really likes to do.

Firefighting According to Abigail

As I tucked Abigail into bed and was about to sing her a goodnight song I got us into one of those deep conversations…

Mommy: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Abigail: A firefighter.

Mommy: Really�why?

Abigail: B/c when fires come to the houses, then I can clean them up and spray them.

Mommy: Oh.

Abigail: But you have to keep the windows closed.

Mommy: Ohhh�why?

Abigail: Because the water, when you spray it, it will ruin the carpet.

Mommy: Indeed?

Abigail: Yes, so when you have a fire at your house remember to keep the windows closed so when the firefighters come and spray the water it will make your house all clean.

Biology according to Abigail

A few days ago, I was trimming Abigail’s fingernails and received the following lesson on how our bodies function.

*Gasp!* “You almost got the blood. I need the blood inside me so it can splash me and I can stay healthy.”

Pause, as she lifted her hand and put it on her chest.

“My heart is beeping. Is your heart beeping, Daddy?”

Conversations with Abigail

Taken as verbatim as I can recall from a conversation during our early morning drive to ballet class today:

Abigail: Mommy? Someday I would like to go visit Noah and the Ark.
Tricia: Oh really? Hmmmmm.
Abigail: Yes, Mom, someday when I am bigger I want to go see Noah.
Tricia: Well, honey, we can’t actually go see Noah.
Abigail: Why not? Does he live very far away?
Tricia: No dear, because Noah lived a very long time ago and now he is in heaven with God.
Abigail: Oh.
Tricia: Yes, he lived a good long life and after he was very old God took him home to live with him in heaven.
Abigail: Ok Mommy, but when I get really really really really really big and much older and bigger and very taller then I will try to go see Noah because he listened to God and he built the ark like God told him to.
Tricia: Oh.

And to wrap up the day, as she was getting her jammies on tonight, she looked way back in her closet and discovered an old dress of mine that I wore for my ninth grade graduation in Saudi Arabia which I have set aside for her to do with as she pleases when she is older. This is what we talked about then:

Abigail: Mommy, is this my dress?
Tricia: Well, sort of. That is a dress I wore when I was younger, when I was a big girl.
Abigail: And will I wear it when Jonathan and I get married?
Tricia: What?
Abigail: Is it my dress to wear when Jonathan and I get married?
Tricia: Sweetheart, you and Jonathan aren’t going to get married.
Abigail: No Mom, I mean when we are really big and really older then I will wear this dress and we will get married.

The Apple Does Not Fall Far From the Tree!

It was lunchtime, and I’d gotten Abigail and Jonathan seated at the table when the phone rang. I answered the call, and took Nicolas into the nursery to change his diaper while I chatted briefly (I have one of those newfangled headset things which make accomplishing tasks easier while talking). I was only gone for about 3 minutes. When I returned I was shocked to see a little pile of lovely strawberry blonde hair on the floor below Abigail’s chair. There she sat with scissors in hand about to chop off another lock. “NO!!!” I managed to blurt out before I started hyperventilating.

Well, if she has a career as a hairdresser in her future, hopefully her haircutting skills will improve. She didn’t do such a swell job on this her first try. It seems she took a large chunk out of the middle of her bangs and then neatly lopped about 4 inches off either side in front on the long part of her hair. Which had finally grown long and thick enough to pull back in a ponytail. And which had actually been quite pretty, all one length except for her little fringe of bangs.

When I asked her why she was cutting her hair she answered very seriously, “Mom, it’s been a long time since I had a haircut.” This should reinforce the fact that preschoolers don’t have a real well-developed sense of time, because I had just taken her and Jonathan for cuts last month. But she really believed she needed a haircut! Furthermore, in her mind, she wasn’t breaking any rules: I’d never stipulated that we aren’t to use our little play scissors for hair-cutting!

My hairdresser managed to fix up the sides of Abigail’s hair such that they are neatly angled and look a bit more purposeful. As far as the bangs though, it’s just going to take some time. And coincidently, preschool pictures are scheduled for Tuesday. 🙂 We may choose to have her wear a decorative hat!

But this little incident caused me to think back to my own childhood. I remember a scenario rather similar to this one. I was a little older, around 8 I think, when I heard my mom mention that she needed to trim my little sister Sandy’s bangs. “Well,” I thought to myself, “I can help Mom by doing this little job for her.” I know at the time that it never occurred to me that I might be transgressing by cutting my little sister’s hair. Well, I got out my very own pair of blunt-edged play scissors and went to town on Sandy’s coif. If I remember correctly, I trimmed those bangs almost all the way back to her scalp. What I didn’t know was, my mom had already given Sandy the bang trim before I got to her. Oops.

Little Sandy, who had a high hairline and a cute cherubic round face at the time, looked a bit strange for quite a while, thanks to her really helpful big sister. It’s probably good she didn’t know enough to be horrified at what I’d done. Sorry again, Sandy!!

But, thinking back on my own adventures in hair-cutting helped temper my reaction to my own daughter’s behavior. She is much younger than I was when I first forayed into hair-cutting and deserves a chance to learn what is appropriate and what is not. This was a fairly harmless way to do just that. In general, Abigail is quite trustworthy in many things for being only four, and on the whole, she’s very obedient. And certainly having two younger brothers so close in age behind her has caused Jay and I to expect alot of her, and maybe even more than we should. In the grand scheme of things this is really no big deal. And as she said to me yesterday, “Mom, I’ll never cut my hair again!”

Sam’s Club?

Tonight Abigail and I went out to do a bit of shopping. I told her we were going to Sams Club and she seemed pretty excited, but then, she usually enjoys a trip to the grocery store. As we made our way through the store I could see a perplexed look on her face and finally she asked me rather impatiently, “Mommy, when are we going to see Sam Wyatt?”

Sam Wyatt Miller is one of our young friends from Mommy Swap almost exactly the same age as Jonathan. I knew he was a bright and focused little fellow, but I bet his parents will be surprised to hear he now has his own warehouse superstore! Way to go, Sam!