4th of July, 2008.I always smile when Taylor 'poses' for a picture.
Taylor treated us all to a little history lesson while we were playing handball on neighbor Greg's driveway. As kids often do, Taylor piped up with some unsolicited information gleaned from a recent history lesson at school. It's always interesting to me to hear the lesson filtered through a second-grader's brain. Here's an excerpt, as best I can remember.
Taylor: "Hey Mom! I know what Independence Day is!"
Me: "Really? What?"
Taylor: "It's the same thing as the Fourth of July."
Me: "Why do we celebrate the Fourth of July?"
Taylor: "Because it's when we got free from England. We threw a bunch of tea in the water and said we wanted to be free on our own. Then England got mad and said they wanted their money and we said no."
Me: "What was that fight called?"
Taylor: "The Boston Tea Party. I don't know why they call a fight a party, but it's when things got bad."
Me: "Did you know that fight led up more fighting and then a war?"
Taylor: "No. We didn't talk about the other fights. Just the party."
Me: "You'll probably get to that stuff later. The war was called the Revolutionary War and we fought against England for our independence as a country. That's why the Fourth of July is also known as Independence Day. Guess what, though? You know the guy that led our military in the Revolutionary War. We've seen his picture a lot lately. Do you know who I'm talking about?"
**************************************************************************************
I should point out at this juncture that Taylor and I had been working on money math every day for the past two weeks. George Washington's picture was in every math problem she'd been doing for weeks! We'd talked a great deal about George Washington being the first president of the United States and why his picture was on the one dollar bill and on the quarter.
**************************************************************************************
Taylor: "Uh, I don't know........." (she smacks the ball to Greg, thinks for another second or two, then her face lights up) "OH! I know! Grandpa Ed!"
Greg and I cracked up!
It made perfect sense to Taylor though. Grandpa Ed is a career military guy, she had seen his picture a lot lately and I had given her the hint that she knew the guy. Besides, Grandpa Ed is one of Taylor's heroes, so to her all of the pieces fit!
Sorry Grandpa Ed! A little misunderstanding about exactly how old you are is the price you pay for being a hero to your granddaughter. :)
Kristin