Thursday, July 24, 2008

Is he going to kill off Prince Charming too?

Hannah is having a lot of difficulty tonight falling asleep on her own. Unfortunately we got into a pattern with her ever since she was a baby that someone usually stays in bed with her at night until she falls asleep (or almost asleep). For some reason tonight she keeps coming downstairs. She came down about 20 minutes ago and said she couldn't sleep but we sent her back upstairs. Then about 5 minutes ago she came downstairs crying that the tree frog outside her window is keeping her awake.

I pulled her up into my lap and told her that she's almost 7 years old and that she needs to start putting herself to sleep. I calmed her down and told her that when I can't sleep I lay in bed and think up stories in my head. I told her that sometimes I think about things we have coming up (like our trip to Seattle and how much fun it's going to be) or fanciful things like winning the lottery and what I'd do with the money. I told her if the tree frog is keeping her awake instead of getting upset about the noise she should make up stories in her head about what he's saying to her. I started to make up all sorts of funny stories about what the tree frog was saying and was spinning this elaborate tale when she lifts her head to look at me, tear-stained face and all, and says to me "Daddy says he's looking for a mate." Well yes, that's true. But how boring is that? And the funny thing is she called it a mate. I know that is probably what Lincoln said to her but that's even funnier. She has such a brillant mind and she loves science and stuff and I know she understands these things, but wouldn't most people have told a 6-year old that the tree frog was looking for a girlfriend? How unromantic is "looking for a mate"?

UPDATE: Lincoln just walked in the room and I told him Hannah had been down here crying. I told him the story and how she said "he's looking for a mate". Lincoln said, "No, I told her he was looking for a girlfriend. She came up with mate". See, she is a budding scientist. I take back everything I said above about him being unromantic.

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