A Bomb?

This story happened at the end of July. It is just too good of a story to not write it down.

I decided to make hamburgers on the BBQ for dinner--I didn't want to heat up the house and I was being kind of lazy because I didn't want to think of anything else to have. It was a hot enough day that toward the afternoon, the kids and Robert went into the pool (Tanner was eating/sleeping so we didn't go in). It happened to be one of those days where I felt like I was glued to the couch feeding Tanner all day. By the time everyone was done swimming, I was finally able to extract myself from off of the couch to cook dinner. Shortly after dinner it was time for the kids to go to bed. Rainer and Amanda still like me to lay next to them and sing a few songs, but sometimes I can't because Tanner needs to be fed--this was one of those times. So, the kids asked if I would come in as soon as Tanner was done; I told them of course I would. Not more than 10 min. later, Amanda comes out of her room looking very upset. We asked her what was wrong and she told us she was scared.

"Why are you scared?"

"I'm afraid there is a bomb in my room."

(at this point I had a very hard time keeping a straight face while trying to console my daughter)

"Why do you think there is a bomb in your room?"

"I smell smoke and burning oil."

"Yes sweetie, that is because I cooked hamburgers on the BBQ. You have your window open so the breeze is carrying the smoke and smell of the cooked fat from the hamburger into your room."

"But how come I can only smell it in my room and not in any other room?"

"I don't know, but I can smell it in the other rooms."

I could tell that she still wasn't convinced that there wasn't a bomb in her room, so I had to try a different approach.

"Amanda, I have been sitting on this couch all day long. No one has snuck past me to get to your room--I would have seen them. I promise you that no one has put a bomb in your room."

All this time I was trying to figure out the root of this--what may have started her down this road and the only thing I could think of was terrorists.

"Do you think that terrorists put a bomb in your room?"

"Yes."

At this point I still had to struggle to keep a straight face, but I let her know that the terrorists want nothing to do with our house--it wouldn't serve their purposes to blow up our house. They want targets that will do a lot of damage and harm a lot of people.

Side note: I was starting to have a little sympathy for her and the fact that we live in such a crazy world that a child would even consider this as a possible situation until I asked her about how she would feel if I posted this story on our blog. I asked her if she was OK with the idea of other people reading about the time she thought there was a bomb in her room...she then said, laughing, "Which time?" Which made me question--how many times have you thought that there was a bomb in your room? Apparently this is an recurring theme. She then started to recount the different times. The best one being the time she heard a noise, thought it was a bomb, and it was only her heart beating!

We love Amanda! She certainly is her own unique person. =)

(July 2011)