Wednesday, August 14, 2013

An Interview

We raised a luna moth!
The kids have so many great things to say, every hour of every day, that I thought I'd see what they do in an actual interview. I had to interview them separately so they wouldn't give all the same answers/fight over answers. I also occasionally tried to get more clarification, but, perhaps because of the pressure, the girls were a bit less prolific than usual. Here's the transcript:

Elise:
If you could be any animal, what would you be? A penguin. Because I like penguins. Because they're black and white, some of my favorite colors. Because they go in water.
What would you like to be when you grow up? A mommy penguin that has baby penguins in her tummy. Anything else? No. [Previously, she'd wanted to be an astronaut mommy--the person who cooks for all the astronauts. Because even astronauts need mommies, right?]
What does Mommy do all day? Work.
What does Daddy do all day? Work.
What would you do if you could do anything you wanted for a day? Play and do work. Fix dinner, play with toys. Go to the Magic House, and the places where we go and I ride in my carseat. The Magic House, the grocery store.
Where are your favorite places? The Magic House, the mall
If you could do anything right now, what would you do? Go to the mall and bring this snack. [Goldfish]
What makes a rainbow?  The sky
What's your favorite holiday?  All of them. I just like holidays.
Sometimes the girls make me take
pictures of all their stuffed animal
setups. Cute!
What makes you the happiest? Ice cream. What's your favorite flavor? Chocolate.
What makes you the saddest? Being hurt
When are you the most scared? Because of the woods. What are you scared of about the woods? Bears. Sometimes I'm brave. If I was by myself I would be brave. And I would take a flashlight!
What do you do when you're afraid? Pray. Does it help: No. Only being inside.
What will you be doing one year from now? Going to preschool.
What would you do to make the world a better place? I don't want to talk anymore.
[At this point, we took a little break. I managed to get her started again, though:]
What's the funniest thing you can think of? Jokes. A pig having no home! [smiles--this is a classic joke from a few months ago] When Kalina gets hurt I'll think of some jokes. [To cheer her up]
What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Ice cream
What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Read and eat ice cream.
What do you love about Kalina? Playing with her.
What are your favorite foods? Goldfish, eating strawberries and chocolate and fruit bits and cooked carrots if you give me them, and Feta cheese.

Matt and the girls like to dig for
worms in the compost pile.
Kalina:
If you could be any animal, what would you be? A kitten. Because I love them.
What would you like to be when you grow up? A mommy. Anything else? No. [Just a couple weeks ago she told me she wanted to be a piano teacher for kids ages 3 through 7 1/2.]
What does Mommy do all day? Work and play with the kids.
What does Daddy do all day? Work on the fish tank and sometimes play with the kids. Today he went to Lowe's with me and Elise stayed home. [Matt has been building an aquarium stand!]
What would you do if you could do anything you wanted for a day? Eat ice cream, go to Grandpa's, have all the treats I wanted, and then take some naps, and then play with Legos. [Elise was listening in and mentioned that she would do that too.]
If you could do anything right now, what would you do? Play with Legos.
Where are your favorite places? Piano lessons, the Magic House, Home, Anna's house. Have you ever been to Anna's house? No. Why do you like these places? They're so fun!
What makes a rainbow? When it rains, there's a rainbow!
What's your favorite holiday? Easter and Christmas and Valentine's Day. Why? On Valentine's Day we get treats, and people love us. Christmas, because there's snow to play in sometimes and a lot of people come over, and there's a Christmas tree!! And Easter, because we get to search for Easter eggs.
Look how big I'm (not!)
getting! 37 weeks.
What makes you happiest? When I'm eating treats!!! What kinds are your favorite? All of them! Except the really spicy ones.
What makes you saddest? When I get hurt.
What makes you the most scared? When I go to bed, because I'm afraid that monsters or something scary will come into my room.
What do you do when you're scared? Pray. Does it help? No, but a little. What helps? Being with Mommy, or Daddy.
What will you be doing one year from now? Playing with Barbies if you allow me, I don't know. I hope to be learning how to sew, and sewing a bunch of stuffed animals for me and Elise. [Sure, she can play with Barbies, just not at my house if at all possible. Blech.]
What would you do to make the world a better place? Eat treats more often. How does that make the world better? Just because treats taste good.
What's the funniest thing you can think of? If a giraffe went running around in the hallways.
What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy? Do Dashy and Mountain King. [This is where we play two specific classical music pieces, and the girls run around in circles on the rug. There's some choreography to it, too.]
What's your favorite thing to do with Mommy? Build with Legos and play the zoo game.
What do you love about Elise? That she's my little sister, and that she is a baby penguin. I love that she is a penguin.
[Kalina got a few extra questions because her attention span was a bit longer.]
What's your favorite memory? When I was in my wedding. What did you like about it? That I looked pretty. [She's referring to being a flower girl in Aunt Laura's wedding, just before she turned two. Not sure if she remembers the wedding or the photos from it...]
What do you like to do with your friends? Play fairies and look for black rocks.
What would you do if you had a million dollars? Buy treats. Buy stuffed animals. That's all.
What are your favorite foods? Applesauce, beans, strawberries, watermelon, pancakes. Favorite for snack is Goldfish.

My observations:

1. Treats make quite the impression.
2. So if both my girls want to be mommies (even if a different species), and mommies work all/much of the day, then why is it so hard to get them to help clean up? Sheesh.
3. If we're ever relying on my girls to make the world a better place, we're probably out of luck. But we will have plenty of ice cream.
4. My children could stand to dream a bit bigger. You could do anything you want for a day and you'd work and fix dinner? And you could do anything you want right now and you'd play with Legos? Or, maybe, they're being raised with realistic expectations? At least their dreams are achievable?

We'll keep up with them as they grow. Stay tuned.

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