kiddo number one

I hate to post when we have Hal. Mainly because we seem to have her so rarely this summer that I want to spend what time she is her with her and not on the computer. This weekend was absolutely fantastic. She and I had some serious and some funny moments and talked about feelings and boys and space and dinosaurs and god....the list is incredibly long really. We also talked about the little boy who had gone missing in our city recently. How grown up a topic for a 7 year old to bring up while we packed up her toys and books for the big move. She expressed her concerns for the kid and his family and how she wished someone would find him. I took that serious moment by the reins and asked her some open ended questions about strangers and dangerous situations. She passed with flying colors a test she didn't even know she was taking. I realized at the end of our talk that she had been playing with her rock collection the whole time unphased and that I had been practically holding my breath. I had hoped she would be savvy about those topics already from school. No. She was savvy about them because she just knows right from wrong. How lucky for us parents. I was appalled however that school hadn't really stepped up to the plate with much more than Fire Safety and the good ol' Stop-Drop-Roll lesson (those are important too, but if she is missing how would we know she was on fire?). I had had talks about "after school special" type topics before with other peoples children back when I was a teacher and I am sad to see the restrictions placed on educators now. I just feel kids who know things are more empowered to stand up for themselves if put in a questionable situation. It is somehow harder a conversation when it is closer to home. Though she knew most of the right answers to creepy scenarios, there were a few things I had to shed light on. Which is nice because that means she isn't totally jaded already about "bad people" out there. But now she isn't as naive either.

I think it is important for us to educate our kids on current events. That being said, I do not think our kids should be sitting down to the 5 o'clock news with us. The world is a scary place for adults. And to be honest, why would any parent want to have to say " I don't know why that person did what they did honey, yes that is sad/scary/bad" all the time. Because the news is full of things we can't even explain or rationalize to ourselves let alone our young.


On a lighter note, big sis had some major moments with little brother while she was here. She now has the hang of feeding him a bottle and she understands the importance of burping him ( or a beast he becomes with his gas fits). Aidan had some super silly spells where he'd do weird little things like lick a blanket and try to shove it in his mouth while making gremlin noises. Much to his big sisters joy. It is something amazing to watch her tickle his tummy and he actually smiles at her now. I am grateful every day that she loves him so much. And that she is such a good kid that she has a great load of examples to offer as he grows.