Hannah’s Animal Emporium

The scene: Driving home from dinner

Hannah: I have an animal store, Mommy. You need to buy some animals.
Mom: Okay. Can I have a fluffy polar bear?
Hannah: Nope, we’re all out. Sorry.
Mom: Oh. Well what do you have then?
Hannah: I have fish, swimming dinos, and scary velociraptors.
Mom: Can I have a scary velociraptor?
Hannah: Sorry, I’m all out.
Mom: You’re all out?! But you just said you had some!
Hannah: I only had one and someone took it already!

Out of the mouth of Hannah

A couple evenings ago, we were in the car on our way out to dinner. Hannah randomly said, “Mackinac Island!” from the backseat, which was odd because we haven’t talked about Mackinac Island in a long time. Dad said, “Where did that come from?” And Hannah said, “It came from my mouth!”

And then we all laughed.

Mom

Four-year-old fashion

Hannah was very excited this morning because she was wearing new socks with Hello Kitty and stripes on them. She told me she wanted to show all her friends when she got to school. Well, when I opened the door to the classroom, Hannah made this big entrance and flopped on the floor to take her shoes off! I said, “Oh, Hannah’s very excited to show everyone her new socks.”

So she kicked out her feet and showed the two friends who were there her socks, and she said, “See? These are my socks! They have stripes on them!”

And the following discussion ensued:

Teacher: Is that Hello Kitty on your socks, too?
Hannah: YEAH!
Little Girl 1: Hey! I have a Hello Kitty T-shirt!
Little Girl 2: I have a Hello Kitty T-shirt, too!
LG1: I have a Hello Kitty T-shirt AND Hello Kitty socks!
LG2: I have Hello Kitty UNDERWEAR!!
Hannah: Hey! I have Hello Kitty underwear, too!
LG2: You have Hello Kitty underwear AND Hello Kitty socks?
Hannah: YEAH!

And that’s when I left, because Hannah had completely forgotten I was there. It was a hilarious way to start the day.

Mom

Star gazing and airline safety

I took Hannah out to look at the stars last night since she was up a little later than normal (well, at least the few stars we can see living where we do).

Hannah: They’re so sparkly! Hey! Can we see a shooting star?
Dad: I don’t think we’ll see a shooting star tonight. Sorry.
Hannah: Shooting stars mean you get your wishes.
Dad: Yep, that’s what Thomas said. Hey look, there’s an airplane too.
Hannah: Oh no! That airplane is going to crash into that star!! *Hannah giggles to herself* I’m just kidding you, daddy!

UP: Movie review

We took Hannah to see Up today. All I can say about it is that everything you might have read about it is true: it’s just wonderful! Dad and I agreed it’s pretty deep for an animated movie – no pun intended, but the characters really have a lot of dimension. They’re not just one-note cartoon characters…they have flaws and issues. It’s the most grown-up of the Pixar movies, I think. It’s also a very sweet, but sad and emotional too. The genius of it is that all the sad, emotional stuff sailed right over Hannah’s head – I was sitting there crying, but she was just happy to be eating popcorn. I’m telling you, the people who made this movie are brilliant.

Anyway, you’ve probably read that the story centers around an old guy named Carl, who’s recently lost the love of his life, Ellie, after probably 50 years of marriage. If you cry at movies (like I do), bring tissue because the montage of their life together will have you crying within the first 15 minutes. (And you’ll cry at least two other times before the movie is over.) They always wanted to go on a grand adventure, but they never got the chance to do it. At the same time, evil developers (dudes in suits) are trying to force Carl out of his and Ellie’s house so they can tear it down and put up high-rise buildings. He refuses, ties a bunch of balloons to the thing and floats…UP…away to have the adventure he and Ellie never had. Carl gets an unintended traveling companion in Russell, a round little kid who happens to be standing on the porch at the wrong time. All of this exposition meant nothing to Hannah, who just laughed and laughed when the balloons went up.

Dad and I both loved this movie – it’s that great movie that works for grown-ups and kids. It is rated PG, and there were a couple of sort-of-scary parts for very little kids. Hannah didn’t like the scene with the thunderstorm, but it didn’t seem to leave a lasting effect. She said she really liked the movie.

So…here’s her synopsis, completely not in chronological order:

“He tied a bunch of balloons to his house! There were lots of bad dogs who tried to get the good dog. The bad dogs flew in planes to try to get the good dog. There was a big bird! The guy flew his house!”

I think you could take any kid over the age of 4 to this movie…and you should, because it’s terrific.

Mom

Nature Lesson

The scene: Sitting at the table eating dinner.

Hannah says quietly to me, “Daddy, I want to tell you something.”
I lean in closer, thinking she might tell me something interesting that happened at school. “What is it, Hannah?”
Hannah grins a little and replies, “Birds poop when they fly.”
At that point, I burst into uncontrollable laughter.

-Dad

Finance for 4-year-olds

Hannah has been slowly, steadily, saving her money for the past two months, with a laser-like focus on the object of her desire: a wooden figure of Emily, one of the engines from Thomas and Friends. I was on a business trip in March when Dad took her shopping, and she saw Emily. He, in his infinite wisdom, told her she needed to save money if she wanted Emily, and that once she came up with $5, he would cover the rest.

Today, the happy day arrived, when Hannah’s money jar hit – and surpassed – the $5 mark. I thought she was going to explode with excitement! She has been so calm and cool about saving her money (50 cents here, 50 cents there for being agreeable and doing what she’s asked)…but when she finally hit the milestone, I thought she was going to try to drive herself to the store. She ran to her room to get dressed and then basically hounded me and Dad until we were ready to go. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen her so excited!

At the store, we found Emily and Hannah was happy to hand over her $5 to the cashier (we “changed” it at home so that the poor woman didn’t have to count out a pile of quarters, dimes and nickels). Then she stared at the package all the way home, and as soon as we walked in the door she was ready to open it up and take Emily to the train tracks to meet all the other engines.

Now she’s got her sights on “dinosaur LEGOs”. We haven’t determined how much she has to save for those yet, but we can pretty much guarantee it will be more than $5.

Mom

The Hannah Alarm

After convincing Hannah that 6am was too early to get up, she did go back to bed for another hour and a half. Then she came back to our room again and mom got up with her at that point so I could stay in bed for a little longer. When they did come in to wake me up, here’s how the scene went:

Hannah comes over to my side of the bed and shouts, “Daddy! Wake up!” Then she walks over to the Rock Band drums in our room and says, “I don’t think daddy’s awake yet. I’m going to play the drums to wake him up.”

So Hannah is pretty good at waking people up.

-Dad

Two funnies

I LOVE Hannah’s sense of humor. Two hilarious exchanges that happened in our family today:

The scene: Lunchtime, sitting at the kitchen table.
Hannah: Daddy, what are your eyeballs made of?
Daddy: Mostly water and carbon.
Hannah: Cats are made of fuzz.

The scene: Getting in the car, ready to drive home after buying Hannah a t-shirt that says, “I scream for ice cream.”
Daddy: Your shirt says, “I scream for ice cream!” Do you scream for ice cream?
Hannah: Actually, I just yell for ice cream.

So funny!

Mom

Puddle splashing!

On Sunday, we bought Hannah some really fabulous pink rain boots with Hello Kitty on them. They are awesome and she loves them. We wanted to get them for her because, well, it’s spring, and the playground at school tends to get a little puddle-y when it rains.

So, when I came to pick her up from school yesterday, where was Hannah? Outside, on the playground, jumping up and down with both feet in a big puddle! Her pants got soaked, but her socks stayed nice and dry. Her teacher looked at me, totally deadpan, and just said, “Good thing she brought those new boots today.” We love that school.

I have never seen anybody who liked to be outside as much as Hannah! Her teacher told me that at first she was a little wary of getting in the puddles, but with a little encouragement, she was soon splashing around and having a great time. The Hello Kitty rain boots have opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

Mom