An Unconventional Question

I asked Amanda an unconventional question and I got an unconventional answer.

I’ll begin with the conventional question. As soon as Amanda got back from her Nanna’s, we all basically asked her the same thing, “Did you have a nice time with Nanna?” Of course, the answer was yes. She was very excited to tell us all about it.

Here are a few of the things she told me:

Her Nanna bought her small yoghurts with Barbie pictures on them. She got to pick out a squeeze bottle of honey at the store. She got to have treats all the time. Her Nanna let her to do anything she liked (I’m sure within reason). For dinner, they ate Gnocchi, which she struggled to pronounce. (It’s funny how a detail like that is important to a four-year-old, but I like it when she shares the details. I’m pretty sure she mentioned it because it was new for her.)

The part her Nanna told me was that they spent as much time at the beach as possible.

Not long after Amanda arrived home from her visit, I decided to ask her a less standard question. Instead of “Did you have a nice time with Nanna?” I asked her, “Did Nanna have a nice time with you?”

With barely a pause, Amanda replied, “No.” Then she looked straight at me and, with the voice of a teacher wanting to explain something to her pupil, said, “It’s hard work babysitting.”

For me, that was a remarkable answer, especially since she came up with it all by herself. I do know her Nanna had a nice time with her, she adores her grandkids, but I’m also sure it was hard work. This is the wisdom of a four-year-old.

I took this photo of Amanda in her Hello Kitty swimsuit running on the beach by her grandparents’ house at Britannia Bay, South Africa, December 2011.

Here are more posts on the funny and/or profound things that Amanda has said:

• Never Underestimate Your Child
• Out of the Mouths of Babes
• Why We Don’t Have a Cat
• A Birthday Card in the Mailbox
• Introducing Your Child to the World of Books
• More than a Prince

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Having fun with Pinterest - Part 2

I shared in my previous post how Amanda and I have been having fun with the paint projects I’ve learned about on Pinterest. I’ve also picked up a few new recipes and even tried one. There seems to be something about almost anything on this site.

There can also be a down side to all of it. For example, I’ve been enjoying looking at the many wonderful kids’ rooms concepts over the past few weeks. Amanda shares a room with her sister, Samantha, and posters are the main decoration on their walls. I began to think that their walls don’t look good enough anymore. It’s normal to want to keep up with modern trends, but it’s not always possible.

It began to weigh a little bit on my heart, but I didn’t voice my concern. So, I was quite surprised when, out of the blue, Amanda brought up the subject herself. As I was putting her to bed, she began counting out loud the number of Hello Kitty and Barbie posters on her wall. Then she asked me why she had more Hello Kitty posters than Barbie posters. For some reason she omitted her My Little Pony posters from the discussion. I gave her some short answer. Yes, I was being impatient, maybe because it had become a sensitive subject for me.

Then she said something that blew me away. She ended with, “My room is perfect!” I realize, once again, that God loves me, because that just says it all.

You might like to read “Out of the Mouths of Babes” if you haven’t already.

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