Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Beauty of Child Conversation

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Chicken"
"Chicken Who?"
"Chicken is for Dinner!"

This is a common joke told at the dinner table.  Even when we aren't eating chicken.  My daughter is quite the jokester.  She picked up a joke about 2 years ago that she heard on Spongebob Squarepants and it still cracks me up.  Finally I saw the episode the joke is on, and I will tell you... She tells the joke a lot better than Spongebob.


These jokes were just the start of the very awesome conversations I have with Allyson.  Now that she has turned 5, she is turning into quite the little person!  We often talk about how much she misses her friends back in Kansas and how she wants to go to the beach.  She doesn't want to go in the water because one of her friends told her all about sharks, but she wants to build sand castles and play on the beach.  I hope someday soon I can fulfill that dream for her.  Until then we will continue our talks about the beautiful beach!

Aside from the memories of her friends, family and most often mentioned "Nannie," this little 5 yr old is very intelligent.  The tone of voice she uses to explain her feelings to me.  Her expressions on her beautiful face are enough all alone to keep me engaged in the conversation.  Ally clearly knows what is going on around her.  With her only being 5 yrs old, I sometimes forget she sees and hears things no innocent child should hear.  Her father and I watch the news and if she is in the room or is passing though she'll pick up on the something that has the reason we no longer watch the news every night.  "Mommy?  Is that lady with the gun safe?   How would you feel if your daughter asked you this?  My heart sank.  My first instinct was to look around, as we were driving in the car.  No women on the sidewalks.  "Sweetie, what lady are you talking about?"  She then explained her thoughts so clearly, I was chilled to my bones.  "The lady on the news.  Did the good guys get her?  I don't want her to hurt anyone."  We no longer watch the news when the children are awake.

When it comes to the topic of death, Allyson is no stranger.  When her "Nannie" died, we explained to her that she wouldn't be seeing her anymore.  She would still go to Papa's house while Mommy and Daddy went to work, but Nannie would not be there.  She understood.  At the funeral, I saw Ally and her cousin standing by the casket (open casket, mind you) discussing what was going to happen to their "Nannie."  Cousin informed her that Nannie would be going to heaven to be with God and she would be safe.  Allyson still does not understand this as we do not frequent a Sunday Service.  From all of this, she has learned that when something dies, you just don't have it anymore.  I would really like her to learn that you still have it in memories.  I suppose she'll pick up on that with our talks about "Nannie," but I have to do my part and not cry when we talk about her.  This in itself is a fight for me.

The best part about the conversations we have is the confidence in what Ally is saying to me!  She is so sure of what she is saying, all the time!  Even if it is so far fetched that dogs in Europe are pink!  She'll tell me all about the Legend of Pinkfoot.  Pinkfoot?  Her version of Bigfoot!  She'll tell me reasons why Cooper acts the way he does. "He just doesn't know how to talk, Mom!"  She'll even tell me why she didn't clean up her room after she was asked.  "I'm too tired to clean my room.  If I clean my room right now, I won't do a very good job because I'm so tired, so I think I'll take a nap instead."  Little did she know that after said nap, it was time to clean her room!


I can't wait for continued conversation with this girl!  She surprises me every day.  I am most excited to have conversations about events in her life that I can give advice and be by her side.

I will leave you with the joke she told at the breakfast table this morning.

"Knock Knock"
"Who's There?"
"Isadore"
"Isadore Who?"
"Is a Door Bell Ringing?"

16 comments:

  1. Having a conversation with a child is sometimes more grown up than with adults. And rather fun, too

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  2. Very cute. My son laughed at your daughter's video. :) Conversations with kids really do rock. :)

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  3. It is wonderful age when you children start to have conversations with you and they comprehend what is happening around them. At the same time, it brings a lot of new challenges. It makes sheltering them a lot harder. But it also gives us a wonderful opportunity to pass down our values and ideas about the world.

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  4. Kids understand way more than we give them credit for sometimes. Hard conversations are never easy, but a lot of times they get it better than we expect.

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  5. I love having talks with both of my boys. Children have such unique perspectives on so many topics that it is refreshing.

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  6. I used to love listening to my kids talk about things when they were that age. I really like the Isadore joke too!

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  7. I always have talks with all my children. We talk about everything. On the other hand, Alley is so adorable doing her little jokes

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  8. Kids are so lovely and you tend to realized how smart they are and you get amused yourself, haha! That is what we experience everyday with my niece lol

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  9. Oh man! What a silly and intelligent little girl you have! She reminds me of my 6 year old daughter, she is super silly and talks lto me from her heart. I love it!

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  10. Omg, Ally is soooo cute! I can't wait for my baby niece to grow up and have a really fun conversation with her! :-)

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  11. Alley is such a beauty! I love her little voice. My youngest sister is 6 years old and I enjoy conversations with her. Sometimes I wonder where she come up with half the things we talk about. She's such a conversation starter.


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  12. Allyson is great at telling jokes! I remember when my daughter was young and she used to tell me jokes. She would get so cracked up and of course I would, too - whether the joke made any sense or not, lol.

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  13. Love that you have real conversations with your daughter. Kids really have the most maxing ways of seeing things. And great sense of humors. LOL

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  14. She is such a cutie. Maybe she might make it on the big stage and become a very famous comedienne. It's always great to laugh after all laughter is the best medicine.

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  15. What a beautiful post. I love that you have conversations with your daughter. She is so adorable. Good job momma!

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