Last night we had a tornado warning for Kalamazoo county. Luckily, the warning was for a storm that had the potential to create a tornado that was north of Portage (by where we used to live in Cooper).
Since Libby and I were checking to see if we needed to eat dinner down stairs, Violet got worried that a tornado would “come and get us”. To quell her fears, we told her that if a tornado was close we would go downstairs and be safe. The dialog from there when something like this:
Violet: “But the tornado can go downstairs and get us.”
Mike: “Wind blows in a straight line and is faster the higher up you are. We might feel wind downstairs, but it won’t hurt us.”
Violet: “If we go downstairs, how can we eat dinner?”
Libby: “We can have a picnic downstairs.”
Violet: “OK…”
Violet: “If we are downstairs, what would happen to all of our stuff?”
Libby: “We can get new stuff.”
Violet: “How can we get a new table? It’s very heavy.”
Mike: “I eat lots of vegetables and protein to get really strong so I can lift the table.” (Trying to change the subject and kill 2 birds with one stone since Violet wasn’t eating her tuna sandwich).
Libby: “You can lift the table too”
Violet: She was lifting it up with her knees
Mike: “Stop lifting the table, we don’t want all of the food to fall off the table and get on the floor.”
Violet: “That would be a HUGE mess. The peas would be all over and we would slip all over the place!”
The discussion of food all over the place was enough to get her mind off of the tornado. It’s neat to see her reasoning develop. It’s also a challenge for Libby and I, but it’s still neat to see our kids grow.
