Essay #5: Clara's Riddles

Clara's in that perfect "kids say the darndest things" stage. She's old enough to take in a lot of what she sees and hears around her, but she's young enough that she doesn't fully understand it all. 

Clara's also confident and no-nonsense, full of probing questions and bold assertions (yesterday she told me that she could beat a former classmate in a race and that she's "actually pretty thin"). She can change topics on the spot, or bring up conversations apropos of nothing. She almost always begins, "Mommy, guess what?" regardless of what she wants to tell me.

I can only assume they did some riddles at school yesterday because, as we were running errands with Amelia, Clara decided to ask some. She started with one that I assume has basis in a real riddle, but I still can't figure out.

    Clara: A person gives you a one dollar. And then it crumbles. A person gives you a two dollars. And then it crumbles. A person gives you four dollars. What happens?
    Me: Nothing?
    Clara: RIGHT. The first two were leaves.

She followed with a mangled version of "A plane crashed in the woods; where do they bury the survivors? (answer: nowhere; the survivors are alive), though all she really remembered was that the riddle had something to do with a plane crash and survivors. Still, she must have got some idea that riddles are about death, because she started improvising similar ones of her own.

    Clara: You're walking down a street. There's no cars. You die. How?
    Me: You have a heart attack?
    Clara: NO. There's a pool in the street and you run into a pole and hit your head and you die.

    Clara: You're walking down a street. There's no cars and one person next to you. You die. How?
    Me: Um, you the person pushes you down and you hit your head?
    Clara: No, close. Someone KICKS you so hard you fall and die.

    Clara: You're in the Artic and die. How?
    Me: You drown in the ocean?
    Clara: No, an animal PUSHES you into the ocean and you drown.

Amelia and I were in hysterics (so much so that I cried repeating the riddles to Jeremy later that night), and Clara was pleased with herself.

I love Clara's curiosity and confidence. Her favorite phrase might be "don't you know I know that?" She lacks much of that self-consciousness that even Amelia, who's only three years older, already has. It makes any conversation with her an adventure.