Worries

About twenty minutes after we put her to bed tonight, Sarah came downstairs wailing, "I don't want to die!"

Shannon was on the phone so it devolved to me to handle the situation. I said, "It sounds like you've been thinking about death while trying to go to sleep."

"Yeah, and I don't want to die! Especially I don't want to have a heart attack."

I tried to reassure her that she was not in danger of a heart attack. "Sarah, I'm sure some children have died of a heart attack, but I've never heard of anyone as young as you having one." I also explained a little bit about what causes a heart attack so she'd know she wasn't much at risk of one.

"Okay, but can I sleep down in the office so if I have a heart attack you can take care of me?"

"No, you'll be fine upstairs."

"Can I at least sleep downstairs so if I do have one I can wobble into the office and find you?"

I nearly lost it at "wobble." Fighting to keep a straight face, I assured her that we'd be able to help her no matter where she was in the house.

Then she asked about what they do to help people who are having a heart attack. I told her that they use a technique called CPR to push against a person's chest and get the heart to start again, and that sometimes they also use electricity to send a signal to the heart to tell it to start. She was calmer by this point and presently went back upstairs to bed.

After Shannon and I had a good laugh about "wobble" and I had started this blog post, Sarah reappeared in the doorway and asked in a mildly concerned tone what would happen if you pushed on your own chest when you weren't having a heart attack. "'Cause I just pushed on mine," she said apprehensively. We told her that you couldn't do CPR on yourself because it took much stronger pushing. "Oh," she said in relief, and scampered back to bed.

Well, I declare

Sarah wasn't feeling well a few days ago and left the table early to go rest in her room. Several minutes later she came out and said, "Well, I declare I'm feeling a trifle bit better." She didn't understand why Alan and I found that so amusing.

ready?

Setting: After her shower

Mom: Sarah, are you ready yet?
Sarah: I'm done lotioning. (sigh) All I need is faith.

I do not think that word means what you think it means.

On the way to our surprise destination on Monday night: "Daddy and I ransacked a plan," she said.