Skip to main content

Circus Elephants

Strep throat made its way back into our household, exactly one month after Ava had it the first time in 2014.  At least we know the drill...strep test, medicine for 10 days, new toothbrush, and done!  Even better, Ava likes the medicine, so it's not a fight to get her to take it twice daily.  G has managed to remain healthy over the last 4 months, so we are knocking on wood that it continues on this path!  Or, maybe his immune system is amazingly strong for such a little guy.  Who knows?!

So, with the arrival of strep throat last week, Ava couldn't go to school on Friday.  Grandpa Whitey was nice enough to help us out, so I brought her up to SSP before driving into work.  As we were driving on the lovely Hwy 3, I was observing that the snow had really melted down over the past few warmer days that we had.  And then I noticed an animal of some sort on the side of the road.  Dead.  And this is how the conversation went from there:

Me: I hope that's not a dog.
Ava: What?
Me: Oh, there was an animal on the side of the road.  I hope it wasn't a dog.  Maybe it was a coyote.
Ava: What's a coyote?

(and then we spent a few minutes pulling up images of coyotes and discussing their pointy ears)

Ava: Why do you hope it was a coyote, and not a dog?
Me: Well, because if it was a dog, chances are it was someone's pet.  And a coyote isn't.  We can't have coyotes for pets.
Ava: Why not?
Me (my God, she asks a lot of questions!): We can't have wild animals for pets, right?  We can't have a lion for a pet.  Or a wolf.  Or a giraffe.  Or an elephant.
Ava (not even skipping a beat): What about circus elephants?  They're pets of the circus.
Me: (silence)
Me: Hm. You might have a point, Ava.

And we drive on, discussing the merits of circus elephants.  During which, I decide to take a "shortcut" to get to Grandpa Whitey's house...I've been there a million times, so no big deal.  Except that I end up in West St Paul, not So St Paul.

Me:  Darn it, I took a wrong turn!
Ava: I'm going to be quiet now, Mommy.  You are spending too much time thinking about circus elephants, and not enough time thinking about Grandpa's house.  Can you get us out of here?
Me:  Um, yeah!  Stop distracting me, Ava!!  (Generally she would ask me to take out my Garmin, so she knows we're not lost.  She must have had more confidence in me this time.)

Eventually we made it to Grandpa's house, but had a nice detour along the way.  Ava also mentioned to me that she's so smart, she should be in 2nd grade, and not Kindergarten.

We're going to have our hands full! ;)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring Local Places

Last Sunday was the perfect day to explore an area that neither Arya nor I had been to before. We headed east to walk around the Vermillion Falls/River and Greenway area. The path was nicely paved, with lots of overhead shade from trees; there were so many families out on bikes and walking, and we had a nice view of the Vermillion River. Arya got some great pics, and I enjoyed spending time outdoors with my sweet girl. This weekend, G and I will be heading out to explore a creek area in a few towns just south of us. And I've already got an idea for another creek I want to walk by next month (it's a bit further away, and I'd rather put that aside until Arya is off at college) The tree leans to find the sun On the way home, we stopped at the DQ in another town (we have a love/hate relationship with the DQ in our town, so I wanted to avoid it.) The warm weather felt great, and we enjoyed some sweet treats while watching the world drive by. We're counting down the days unti...

What a Week

The weather has been unseasonably warm this fall, so we've been able to extend our outdoor projects just a bit.  This past week Scott's been working in the garden, cleaning everything out, and repairing the back wall of our garage.  Ava was such a good little helper, scooping up dirt, but still trying to keep her hands clean while doing it! I swear, a box is all she needs to make her happy. Princess Darla. Princess Darla has had enough.  I personally like how she and Ava have the same expressions in this picture. Apparently Spanky was bored - check out that yawn in the background! We went down to Grand Meadow this weekend, and as always, it was so fun to see Ava and Isabel play together.  They actually had several little conversations with each other - and they were so polite while doing so!  We even had them share a room last night...boy, that was a challenge.  I think they finally fell asleep around 10:00pm.  And of course, Ava wa...

Half of a Century

I celebrated my 50th birthday this past week! When I was younger, 50 sounded reaallllly old. But now that I'm there, I recognize that it's really not. As I mentioned last week, the iron supplements I'm taking for my anemia have kick-started me feeling a million years younger, as well.  We had a wonderful birthday dinner at my parents' house last weekend (complete with my favorite kind of birthday treat - yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Basic, yes, but I love it so much!) I had a really busy week planned at work, so taking my birthday off (Tuesday) was a relief and gave me a chance to slow down and reflect on my life. The weather was sunny and warm (I've had my share of rainy birthdays, so anytime the sun is out on my birthday, I'm grateful.) Scott picked up flowers and a Starbucks gift card for me, so I had breakfast courtesy of Starbucks and read while sitting on our front porch. Pria loved having me home on a Tuesday and wanted to sample some of the goods...