Week ending December 2, 2007: This week Chloe has spent a lot of time practicing writing her letters. She already knew how to write “Chloe” and “Alex”, but this week she had another word she wanted to write, so she practiced her “N’s” and her “P’s”. No “N’s” and “P’” in “Mommy” and “Daddy”, you notice. Yup. The next most important word in Chloe’s world is “princess”. She tried writing “princess” and got frustrated that the letters didn’t look quite write so she decided on her own to write a page full of “P’s”. I asked if she wanted to learn the some more of the letters and she said “maybe tomorrow”. Sure enough, the next day she sat down and wrote a page full of “N’s”. It is really amazing how kids get the urge to learn something and are willing to put the work into it.
Also this week we started reading a book of Shel Silverstein poems that I had read when I was a little girl. The poems are much stranger than I remembered, but the kids really liked them. There is a poem called “Hungry Mungry” in which a boy named Mungry eats all the food in the house, then eats his parents, his house, his city, the US Army, the world, the sun, the universe, and then there is nothing left so eats himself starting at his toes and then there is nothing left except teeth. Chloe said “what do you think the sun tastes like?” I admitted I didn’t have a guess and asked what she thought and she said she thought it would probably burn your mouth.
My Alex story for this week starts at bedtime. Alex said “what if you turned into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”. I said “then I’d lay all over you and get you sticky with peanut butter and jelly” and I pretended to use my belly to smear him. Instead of laughing he started to cry. He balled “if you turned into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I’d be really upset!” I said that I’d never really turn into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and that I’d never be anything except his mommy. Then he cried “what about when you die and go to heaven?” Then I realized the problem was a discussion that Chloe had started earlier in the day. Out of the blue she asked if she’d die when I died. Then she asked if Daddy would die when I died. I asked Chloe what made her think about me dying and she said “PopPop died and went to heaven and now he isn’t here anymore”. Anyway, at bedtime I talked with Alex about how I expected to live a long time until he was old enough to have kids and grandkids, and I reminded him of all the people we know how who will love and take care of him. He eventually stopped crying and went to sleep.
Also this week we started reading a book of Shel Silverstein poems that I had read when I was a little girl. The poems are much stranger than I remembered, but the kids really liked them. There is a poem called “Hungry Mungry” in which a boy named Mungry eats all the food in the house, then eats his parents, his house, his city, the US Army, the world, the sun, the universe, and then there is nothing left so eats himself starting at his toes and then there is nothing left except teeth. Chloe said “what do you think the sun tastes like?” I admitted I didn’t have a guess and asked what she thought and she said she thought it would probably burn your mouth.
My Alex story for this week starts at bedtime. Alex said “what if you turned into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?”. I said “then I’d lay all over you and get you sticky with peanut butter and jelly” and I pretended to use my belly to smear him. Instead of laughing he started to cry. He balled “if you turned into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich I’d be really upset!” I said that I’d never really turn into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and that I’d never be anything except his mommy. Then he cried “what about when you die and go to heaven?” Then I realized the problem was a discussion that Chloe had started earlier in the day. Out of the blue she asked if she’d die when I died. Then she asked if Daddy would die when I died. I asked Chloe what made her think about me dying and she said “PopPop died and went to heaven and now he isn’t here anymore”. Anyway, at bedtime I talked with Alex about how I expected to live a long time until he was old enough to have kids and grandkids, and I reminded him of all the people we know how who will love and take care of him. He eventually stopped crying and went to sleep.
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