Saying funny things

Aloka (with her new haircut)!

Going to the Co-op grocery store has been challenging lately with Aloka. Every time I go there, there is a struggle between she and I about her getting Sundrops, a "healthy" (organic) version of M&M's basically, but still pure chocolate. Inevitably she gets her Sundrops, and I trudge out of the store silently swearing off the managers who put everything delicious at toddler level.
Anyway, as i was parking the car yesterday Aloka says "mama, this time don't put me in the cart." "But Aloka, I know you're going to get Sundrops if I don't put you in the cart!" I look at her in her car seat, and she has this huge grin on her face, which suddenly changes to a fury, and she says "Don't know my trick, mama!" Boy, i couldn't help but laugh.
And then a couple nights ago, she decided she wanted do some ballet in the living room. Now, she has only seen a ballet class a couple times as far as her exposure to the dance form. So I turn on some J.S. Bach and she starts to dance, but a few seconds into it, she screams "WHERE'S THE BEAT??" So we turned on our "other" music (one of my faves right now is a belly dancing CD) and she's dancing along doing spins and the occasional belly roll and hip shimmy!

And then last week I was sitting on the couch with her and I noticed a moth in our window outside caught in a spider web and struggling to get free. I said something about it, and Aloka was fascinated. I wasn't sure how much to explain to her because we haven't talked to her too much about death yet, and she's very sensitive. We told her that spiders eat moths and that's what they need to live. She became very concerned about the moth. Then she said to us in a worried voice "Is it sensitive?" Josh and I were speechless. Josh get teary, Aloka was so concerned, and I was not sure what to say to her. She knows about death and impermanence already, but in a childlike abstract way.
Later that night when I was putting her to bed, she told me she's worried that an animal is going to eat her. She said "mama, will you keep me safe?" After I reassured her I would, she said "And will Dada keep you safe?" Awwwww, how cute! I thought it was so sweet and amazing how children are aware of the hierarchy of the family. So cool and primal.

Ok, and one last thing because our daughter is such an engineer: We have a huge hula hoop we got at a festival over the summer. Aloka was trying to get Josh to hold it in the air, upright, so she could stand on the inside of the hoop (like you're trying to get a dog to jump through it). She gets lifted up (not very high off the ground) and Josh is holding it from the top with one hand and Aloka's hand with the other. Quite a trick! But the hoop starts to sag with her weight. So she takes a look at the situation, and she tells Josh "Hold it from the bottom Dada, it's stronger!" What?? Josh and I look at each other like "since when does she know the physics of a Hula Hoop?"