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!!