Almost 7

It's hard to believe that next week Alanna will be 7 and that she's already in First Grade. We've gone from having super cute moments daily where she *discovers* something new (although we still have some) to having moments where she's asking questions beyond her years but interpreting them with her own blend of 6-7 year old logic.

Some of the gems from this summer are below. Enjoy!

Grasshoppers and World Hunger
Alanna spent a couple weeks with Grandma 'Nette and Grandpa Joe this past summer and some time out at the ranch which she loved. She noticed that there were a LOT of grasshoppers at the ranch and after some encouragement from Grandma and Grandpa tried to "help" by squishing grasshoppers. Once she got home, she informed me of the following solution to help end world hunger-

A: We need to create a HUGE vaccuum cleaner to suck up all the grasshoppers on all the farms and ranches to help the farmers. In some countries people like to eat grasshoppers! So we could package them all up and ship them to other countries so those people will have food.


Pain in the Butt
Alanna is great around other children, but we learned after the visit with Grandma and Grandpa that she has a bit of trouble after about a day with no longer being the center of attention. Her little cousin spent a few days there with her and upon her return she had a new world view on wanting a little brother or sister.

We were in Kohls and I saw a mother holding a newborn baby girl. I pointed them out to Alanna and remarked, "You looked just like that when you were little, isn't she cute!"
A: Yes. But Mommy, I'm so glad you don't have a baby in your tummy.
M: Why's that?
A: Because then you'd be PREGNANT.
M: Well, yes, that's how it worked. Are you saying you don't want a little brother or sister?
A: Not so much.

She then paused a moment and looked chagrinned like she had said something that could be considered not very polite. She followed up with...
A: Well, Mommy if you had another baby you'd have to start all over!
A: And raising TWO kids would just be a pain in the butt!

I found it interesting that the logic turned on and she decided to turn it into concern for my well-being rather than admitting that she simply didn't like the idea of sharing her world.

Political Views
Overall, my husband and I have tried to be very conscientious of not bringing political views home with us within earshot of Alanna. He does however listen to a lot of NPR in the car and Alanna asks questions when she hears the commentary or when she's in my car and the news mentions something. We've tried to be impartial and answer the questions without going too far into detail. This is where the complexity of the questions don't always match up well with the logic she uses to interpret the answers.

The other day after the bus dropped her off, she looked to Jeb and asked:
A: Daddy, do you like Obama?
D: Yes.
A: Mommy doesn't.
A: Obama's health plan is going to KILL people!

Ok, Mommy never said any such thing. With all of the discussion on the news/radio about the health plan, Alanna has asked if I think the health plan is a good thing. I had told her that Mommy thinks the idea of health care for everyone is a great idea, but that I'm not sure this is the right plan. She then of course will ask why, to which I responded that I think they needed to take a little more time to think about it and make sure it will give everyone access to the care they need.

Her little logic interepreted:
People don't get care they need = People die = Obama is going to kill people = Mommy doesn't like him

This parenting thing while trying to take moments to teach and raise a child who has well-thought out ideas/opinions is not easy stuff!!

Priorities

Jeb was notified on Friday that he would be laid off and his position eliminated June 30th. We'd been semi-prepared for this, but the reality of it still always seems to catch one off guard.

Over the weekend I had explained to Alanna that we were going to be just fine and tried my best to reassure her that she had nothing to worry about. I told her that Daddy was going to get to stay home with her for the summer and wouldn't that be fun! I told her that we'd need to be more careful with our money, but that she didn't need to worry about a place to live, food to eat, or clothes.

She looked up at me and said, "What about toys???"
I explained that we could still buy toys, but we probably wouldn't buy things as often and we'd really need to think about the toys we want and budget them in.

She looked panicked and asked, "What about Happy Meals!!???"
I explained that we probably wouldn't go out to eat as often, but that many times Mommy has a coupon for McDonald's and that she could still get a Happy Meal once in a while.

She looked downcast and declared, "We're POOR!!"
*sigh* No, honey we're not poor, we're just fine.

I suppose though it's all a matter of perception. When you're six, those happy meals can seem pretty important even if she's only getting one maybe 2-3 times a month. It's a treat, and she is not happy about that treat possibly going away.

Yesterday, she announced that she had packed her own lunch to help save us money. I told her that she didn't need to worry about that and that her lunches were all paid for through the school year. She declared that it was ok, she still wanted to take her lunch because "then I get to be in the front of the lunch line!!!"

Again...it's all about priorities.

Thoughts about God

The other day Alanna was thinking about God and made a couple observations out of the blue.

"I think God and the angels come down and sit in empty movie seats."

"Technically there's only one boss and that's God."

Random Acts of Kindness

I just absolutely love this photo.  At first blush, it looks like she made out like a bandit with Easter baskets.  But the truth behind the photo just makes me so proud...

Alanna had another follow-up appointment scheduled for the week of Easter and the week prior to her appointment she told me that she wanted to make Easter baskets and take them with her to the Children's Hospital for children that may be having surgery over Easter or have to stay in the hospital rather than being home.  She never ceases to amaze me with her kind heart.  I told her I thought it was a wonderful idea and that we could certainly go shopping to get things for Easter baskets.  She picked out all kinds of goodies and was grinning ear to ear when they were put together.  She's wearing her Daisy Girl Scout vest because we thought it was also a great opportunity for her to earn her caring and considerate petal.

She was so excited to deliver the baskets and practically bounced in to her appointment.  

On the way home we saw a man holding a cardboard sign.  Now that Alanna is beginning to read, she saw the word "hungry" on the sign and asked me why he was holding it up.  I read the sign to her and she immediately responded with concern, "Mommy, can we give him the strawberries you bought at Costco?"  There was a container in the car from when I'd run an errand at lunch.  My heart broke as I had to explain to my caring little girl that I couldn't stop the car but that we would continue to help by giving to food shelves and helping where we could.  

She wanted to know other ways we could help so the following day we learned about Random Acts of Kindness and took chocolate bunnies to the firemen at the firestation near our home as well as handed out a plethora of bunnies at the Post Office.  The lady at the Post Office behind the counter said she never knew the Easter bunny was blonde with piggy tails!  

Afterwards, we reviewed what random acts of kindness are and I asked Alanna what her favorite part was.  Her reply?

"Seeing people smile."

Pony Cars

Another from the Daddy files:

So there Alanna and I were driving to Nana’s. And she started talking about cars. So I said “what kind of car would you like our family to have?”
To which she replied with a beaming (and mischievous smile on her face) ”…A Pony Car!”

“Well what kind of car is that honey?”
“You know, a Pony car.”
“I am sorry darlin’, I don’t know what a Pony Car is.”
“Yes you do…like on the internet.”
“Ah, Alanna I see so many things on the internet that I can’t possibly remember them all.”
“Daddy, you know what a Pony Car is.”
Is that like a carriage? Like in Cinerella?”
“No.”
“Is it a My Lil Pony Car?”
“NO.”
“Well can you explain instead of raising your voice?”
“Ok…Like on the test.”
“What test?”
“The internet test.”
“The Internet Test?”
“Yes the one on Facebook.”
“You mean the Logo test on Facebook?”
“Yes! The test we took together!”
“Pony Car huh?... You mean a Porsche of a Ferrari??!!”
“Yes! That would be a nice car wouldn’t it daddy?”

Africa

Straight from the Daddy files from this morning's car ride to daycare:

So MPR was on the radio, and they were talking about the young men that have been missing and turned up in Africa.

Alanna fixated on this and I reassured her that she was safe as the kids they were talking about:
1-are boys
2-are about 18-20 years old
3-All went to a church in Minneapolis (actually a mosque, but I did not want to have to define that also this morning)

To which she replied…”oh good, we are never going to a church in Minneapolis right?”

I then said “no its not Minneapolis’s fault, its just that Africa needs soldiers and they are trying to get them wherever they can.”

To which she said “Oh yeah, they don’t even have enough to eat, but at least they can play games, and mini-games right?”

And I said “what?!”

A: “Like the Mommy show.”

D: “What Mommy show?”

A: “The Africa mommy show where they don’t have any food and play games…”

D: “You mean, Survivor?”

A: “Yeah Survivor!”

Alanna's Snowy Butt

Alanna's helping me write this update and decided on the title of the post all by herself.

Tonight when we got home, I went down to the curb to get the garbage cans.  I turned and looked up the driveway to see Alanna intentionally and enthusiastically plop down into a huge snowbank.  No snowpants on, bottom first.

I hollered up the drive, "Alanna!  Why are you sitting in the snowbank?"

She replied at the top of her lungs so the whole neighborhood could hear, "Because my butt likes snow!"

I Won!

Without fail when our evening babysitter is over, Alanna is bound to say something noteworthy.

Last night was date night and sure enough, Andrea had a pretty cute quote from Alanna to share.

Alanna likes to play Pokemon, a LOT and often she'll actually play against herself to try out her decks.  Last night, she was playing and told Andrea, "I was playing against myself and guess what!!??" (pure excitement in her voice)  "I WON!"