Throw Away Your TV

With Hannah, there is really no need for TV to be entertained around here. This morning John and I were talking about Jerry Falwell dying, and I mentioned that I didn't appreciate religiously oriented people claiming that non-religious people didn't have morals. John asked what morals I had. Well, I don't think you should kill people. Hannah chimed in, you shouldn't stick forks in people's eyes. Well, exactly! That's what I'm talking about!

Then this afternoon, Hannah made a Lego car (for a cat to drive). She included a little rooftop terrace, where her Barbie in Swan Lake skunk Kelly girl was perched with a bowl. I was telling Hannah that she really shouldn't make it easier for the skunky girl to get around and stink up the place, and she pointed out, "she’s extra eating rose petals so that her farts won’t smell so bad." So now you know.

Birthday Girl

Hannah’s birthday is in a week. FU-UCK! We haven’t bought anything for her yet. We haven’t made any plans for a party. *starting to panic* Hannah has had a wide range of party ideas, though:

• toting her friends to an amusement park an hour away (no, because we could only fit 2 other kids in our car)


• taking her friends to see Pirates of the Caribbean (has possibilities, but we did a movie bday last year)


• camping in a tent

John might go for #3, but I see several hurdles—we don’t have a tent, we wouldn’t know how to set one up if we did, and it has been raining for almost 2 weeks, so there’s no guarantee of sunny or at least dry weather.

Hannah helpfully went to the Barbie website and made a wishlist that looks like a Toys R Us ad. There’s no way I’m going to get her Barbie shampoo or a real vacuum cleaner (in pink). If she wants to vacuum, I can certainly hook her up with our Hoover (not pink).

I asked her if she thought 10 would be much different from 9. “Well, there’s puberty.” Yes, well, I had failed to take that into consideration. 10 will probably be *way* different from 9. At school, they are doing a unit on puberty in social studies. I’ve been pleased that Hannah brings up stuff they have talked about in school, or asks me questions based on it. I don’t want to be a squeamish parent, so I make it a point to answer questions as straightforward and *factually* as possible. So far, so good.

Now that the paper is behind me, I can wash the dishes or vacuum or think about anything but the paper and not feel guilty. Good times. Also, more hygienic times. :-)

Snippet

The paper's over. Whew! Gory details on the writing blog.

I was walking Hannah to school one morning, and we spotted some flowers in someone's garden, and that set her off telling me all about Barbie Fairytopia and how the Fairy Enchantress gave Alena (sp?) some wings for saving Fairytopia.
Me: What do you get for just bringing the Fairy Enchantress breakfast in bed? Fairy eyebrows?
Hannah: Maybe you get fairy thanks. And a few bucks.