City Mouse Country Mouse and the Black Plague

Last night was parent/teacher conferences. Alanna's doing famously and loves school which is great. I love that she loves school.

Apparently they read the City Mouse and Country Mouse story. When the teacher stopped for discussion she said that the city mouse was afraid of cats and why did the kids think that people in the city would want to own cats?

Alanna raised her hand and proceeded to tell the class about "Way back when there was a Black plague." and about how a lot of people had died and they needed cats to get rid of the rats carrying the disease.

I think the teacher was looking for a more current reason....

Proud Mama

Alanna is such a caring child that it never ceases to amaze me. We did the Disney Get a Day Give a Day program for Kids for a Better World and spent most of a Sunday with a little card assembly line in our house. We made cards for soldiers who are deployed, cards to go around the necks of teddy bears for children who have been victims of hurricane, and cards to go in with personal care items for those who are homeless. Jeb did most of the edging, I did the writing, and Alanna decorated with stickers and fancy hole punches.

Once we were done, she took them over to Ashlee Kephart's house to deliver them. Ashlee is such an amazing young woman and was actually Minnesota's only torch bearer for the Vancouver opening ceremony. There was a news crew there at the time and Alanna ended up in the segment they were doing about Ashlee. You can see it here: Alanna on January 18 Twin Cities Live. Click the Olympic Torchbearer link on the right side of the video screen.

She's told me multiple times since that she wants to make a LOT more cards, so we're doing it again as part of our Valentine's Day Girl Scout meeting.

I love that she is such a caring little girl.

DNA and Cloning

The other night Jeb and I were sitting in the dining room while Alanna was in the bath. The dining room is very close to the bathroom so when Alanna piped up, "Mommy, something did happen at school today...", we could hear her loud and clear from where we were sitting.

A: I presented to the class today.
M: Oh really?
A: I told them about DNA and cloning.
M: Um. Oh and how did that come about?

A: We were reading a story about snowflakes and the little boy had to find two that were alike but couldn't. I explained that DNA is what makes us unique but that cloning can make two things the same.
M: Oh.
A: But Mommy.....
M: Yes?
A: I had to use Biology words like sperm and egg

M: Ok sweetie, but in the future remember we don't need to be telling our friends about sperm and eggs and that's something their parents are in charge of, Ok?
A: Yep.

Turns out she actually started in after the conversation had gone from snowflakes to how fingerprints are also unique. THEN she also talked about it in another class where they were talking about People having Baby People and Cats having Kittens, etc. She informed the teacher that cloning could have an implanted kitten coming from a human. The teacher redirected and all was well.

Jeb was disappointed that apparently something got lost in the comprehension of embryonic transfer. *SIGH*