Intense questions

The last post was about Sarah asking Leslie questions about God. I couldn't get the story out of Pete or Sarah, so I went right to the source and got it from Leslie. Here's what happened:

Sarah and I were leaving the Dragon Park and she saw the church we pass on the way out. She said, "What's that building?" I told her it was a church of some kind.

Sarah: Leslie, what's a church?
Leslie: A church is a building where people meet and think they are talking to God.
Sarah: What's 'God?'
Leslie: People around the world have different thoughts about what they think 'God' is. Some people think that God looks like a person, while other people think that God is in everything, and other people think that there are Gods for lots of different things.
Sarah: Are there LOTS of Gods?
Leslie: I don't really know the answer to that.
Sarah: Well, what do you THINK?
Leslie: There are lots of different groups of people like Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and Christian. Each group of people has ways that they feel about 'God'." It is important to respect other peoples' thoughts,
even if we don't feel the same way.
Sarah: Well, what do YOU think?
Leslie: I am a biologist and that while I think that religions are important to people, that it's perfectly ok not to believe in God.
Sarah: When people talk to 'God', what do they ask?
Leslie: People might ask God for help or peace or healing.
Sarah: Why do they ask for THAT?
Leslie: I think they ask for those things because it makes the person feel better.
Sarah: Does God talk back to those people?
Leslie: They THINK God has answers for them.
Sarah: Oh, can we get some chicken nuggets and French fries?

Man, I love that girl. :)

Theological questions

Pete told me yesterday that Sarah had asked Leslie questions about God when they went to the park Saturday.

Me: She did?
Pete: Yeah.
Me: What did she ask?
Pete: Oh, the usual. (Mr. Vague here - grrr! You can't say that after dropping this kind of bomb! Dammit!)
Me: Like what? (Getting frustrated - why does he make me ask 20 questions to get the answer?)
Pete: Leslie told Sarah that a lot of people think God lives in churches, but he doesn't. And that he's invisible.

Of course, this has me very curious as to what questions Sarah asked, and why. We don't talk about this stuff at home. When I tried to get her to tell me what her questions were, she became very shy and told me she didn't want to talk about it. !!!!

Since Pete's going to be Mr. Vague about it (as ususal), I'll have to ask Leslie. I will report when she fills me in on this mystery.

I will name him George

and I will love him and pet him and squeeze him....

When Sarah got home yesterday I asked her if she had learned anything new at school.

Sarah: Yes, Mommy.
Me: What did you learn?
Sarah: We got a GUINEA PIG!!
Me: A guinea pig? Wow!
Sarah: Yeah!
Me: What's it's name.
Sarah: George.
Me: George? Who named him?
Sarah: Gage.
Me: Because he brought him, didn't he?
Sarah: Yeah.
Me: What color is he?
Sarah: Brown and white! He's a baby.
Me: Aww. Is he cute?
Sarah: Yeah. We play with him, and feed him, and talk to him, too.
Me: That's great.
Sarah: Mommy, can I have a guinea pig?

This morning she took a carrot to school for George. I peeked at him in his cage - yep, he's brown and white, little and very cute. I was hoping he'd make that "reeet reet" sound, but no go. Oh well. Sarah was very proud of the carrot, "I'm going to show everyone I brought this." There is a little basket sitting on top of the cage that the teachers put him in so the kids can pet him. Maybe this weekend we'll go to SuperPets and buy him some toys - his cage was pretty bare.

Of course, she asked me about a million times if we could get one. Who knows. I'm sure the cats would LOVE it. ;)

Eeek! The dreaded PINK EYE!

I suppose I should have known that it would get to us sooner or later, but I was hoping that it wouldn't.

Pink Eye has been going around Sarah's school for about a month now, reported in this class, reported in that class, yadda yadda. And until today, she has avoided the ever icky, itchy goopiness of conjunctivitus.

UNITL

This morning I noticed that her left eye was a little red and a tiny bit puffy. Uh oh. I asked her if it itched. Her answer was noncommittal (I think she was half asleep). But I put in some lubricating drops hoping it was simply dry-eye irritation and told Pete to ask her teachers to keep an eye (har har) on the situation.

Wouldn't ya know it... I got the call not 30 minutes ago.

Teacher: Mrs. Haddin? We've been watching Sarah's eye all day for you. She just got up from her nap and both eyes were crusted shut, swollen, red, goopy and hurting her.
Me: Oh, brother.
Teacher: Yeah. So...pink eye's been running rampant around here.
Me: I know. Do I need to pick her up right now?
Teacher: Well, yes. You know, as soon as you can.
Me: Okay. We'll be there in a little while.

Bah. I called Pete...

Pete: Hello?
Me: Hey. Sarah has pink eye.
Pete: Great.
Me: Yep. You need to go get her (he was picking her up anyway). Can you go now?
Pete: Now?!
Me: Yep. She's contageous.
Pete: *sigh* Okay.
Me: I'll call the doctor and then call you back.

Called the doctor. Hooray! Don't have to take her in since pink eye has been confirmed at the school. They're calling in a script and Pete can pick it up after he gets Sarah. I let him know this and he's on his way now.

And you know what? It's all his fault. Hehe.. how? He called me back and said, "You know, I was just thinking this morning how lucky we are that we haven't had to take time off for a sick kid. I guess I should have kept my mouth shut."

Doh!

Now I need to keep her away from the Rooster and hope that he doesn't already have it!

Shake your booty

We spent the holiday weekend with my sister et al. in Athens. Sarah loves her cousins! They are both quite a bit older (by 8 and 14 years) and are more like big brothers to her. But they don't mind playing with her and letting her boss them around. ;)

They watched movies, played with marbles and legos, played hide & seek inside, set off cap gun paper outside (she watched at a safe distance), got out several board games, and Susan taught her how to shake her booty.

We were listening to various genres of music, disco being one, and Sarah would show us her interpretive dance steps. When a particularly good disco song came on (good disco? An oxymoron, right?), Susan told her to stick out her but, put her hands in the air and wave her arms from side to side. Sarah tried her best and did a pretty good job. (No picture yet, sorry).

On the way home, we were listening to some of that very music in the car. Sarah said, "Daddy, look!" There she was in the car seat with her arms in the air, waving them from side to side in time with the beat saying "Shake your bootay. Shake your bootay!" I bet she was trying to wave her butt, too. She's too funny.

OMR?

One phrase Sarah has learned from her friends at school is "Oh... my... gosh!" including all the body language and inflection that makes it too funny to hear it coming from a 3-year-old.

Last night Sarah was watching TV in our room when she asked me a question. Unfortunately, because of "momnesia," I can't remember what her question was. But my answer prompted her to say,
"Oh... my... RIDDANCE!"

"What?" I asked. I wasn't quite sure what I had heard.
"Oh... my... RIDDANCE!" she repeated.
"Riddance?"
"Yes. Riddance." She gave a shy smile and I laughed. Maybe she thought riddance was a bad word. However, since I didn't correct her or tell her that it wasn't a good idea to say that, she laughed too.

She cracks me up. :D

Grace

While eating dinner last night, Sarah asked us to hold hands:

Sarah: Very good. Now sing this with me.

Earth we thank you for this food,
For rest and home and all things good.
For wind and rain and the sun above,
But most of all for those we love.

She repeated it slowly several times until she was sure we got it right. She told Daddy, "You know the words! That's so great!"

She can really melt your heart. ;)