Smith Family Weblog

I nearly forgot about this exchange Ava and I had about her homework project a couple of weeks ago. I shared it with many of you over Thanksgiving, but here’s a quick recap:

Every week, Ava is sent home with a brown paper sack to be filled with something that either starts with a specific letter or is a specific color, etc. At first, we helped her with this pretty extensively; now she wants to do it by herself most weeks.

As I was checking through her assignment for the week of the 24th–a collection of things for which she was thankful–this is what I found.

Me: Ava, what is all of this?

Ava: It’s my homework.

Me: It’s a bag of random stuff. Let’s find some other things.

Ava: NO! This is what I want to take.

Me: Ava, these are silly things. We should find some photos of Olivia or your family or things like that. Things that you are thankful for.

Ava: I am thankful for all of these things, Mom.

Me: You’re thankful for this orange sack? Why? It’s just a sack!

Ava: I got it at J.J.’s birthday party, and I’m thankful that he’s my friend.

Me: Oh. Wow. Okay. But, what about this ball?

Ava: I’m thankful that I get to play ball with Olivia.

Me: …I see. But why the phone? This is actually Olivia’s toy. It’s not even yours.

Ava: But I am thankful for phones because I can call and talk to my family.

Me: Okay, good point, but the puzzle pieces–

Ava: I am thankful for Nebraska, Iowa and Kansas. And Minnesota.

Me: Explain Maine, then.

Ava: There’s a lobster on that one. I am thankful for lobsters.

Me: Well, who isn’t. The pager and block?

Ava: I am thankful for playing doctor and for building.

Me: And the duck there?

Ava: It reminds me of swimming, and I’m thankful for swimming with Olivia in the summertime.

Me: Wow. Okay. But seriously, the chip? Why is there a chip in there?

Ava: I just like chips.

Ava: Mom, I don’t want to go to kindergarten.

Me: Why?

Ava: Because kindergarten is so BORING.

Me: It’s great. You’ll love it.

Ava: No. I’ve decided I’m just going to be a grown up when I turn five.

Ava: Mom, my pull-up is full like a full moon.

—

Ava: “I stepped on the scale, and my feet weigh fifty hundred and a million pounds!”

Mom: “I know the feeling.”

—

Ava: “I smelled my mouth, and it smells like dirt!”

This morning, Doug emailed three little remarks he heard Ava make in the past few months. He wanted help in preserving them, so I offered to post them here. It’s a perfect addition for Grandparents’ Day.

So, from Grandpa Smith…

1) “Grandpa – why are you wearing your barn hat?” (I was wearing a straw hat.)

2) I saw Ava walking toward the house with a flower in her hand. I said to Rebecca, “Oh, I think maybe Ava’s is bringing a flower to her mommy.” Ava came in and handed it to Rebecca, who thanked her profusely, really beaming. A seemingly perfect mother-and-child moment, that ends with Ava saying: “I stepped on it.”

3) We took Ava on then golf cart down to Chris and Martie’s. When we passed their over-the-top eagle sculpture, with its talons prominently jutting out, Ava said, “Grandpa, why does that eagle have toenails?”

Ava, to the guests of a very impromptu party at our house after work on Friday night: “Do you know where my mom put the dirty dishes? In the oven!”