Power outages

Kids really don't get power outages. We lost power for two hours on Thursday evening due to weighty snow knocking down trees into power lines. I was in the middle of making macaroni and cheese for Elisabeth and her cousin Annaleis (ok, in the beginning of...). Elisabeth kept asking me if it was ready yet, and was incredibly irritated with me when I told her I couldn't finish making it. She beseeched me, "Mommy PLEASE turn on the lights..." Try explaining power lines to a three year old. She just doesn't get it, especially because the power lines are buried in our neighborhood, so she can't actually see them.

Me: "Do you know what electricity is?"
E: "Yes." (she knows what everything is)
Me: "when we plug things into the wall, we're getting electricity to make things work."
E: "like the puter?"
Me: "Yes, like the computer. But sometimes the electricity breaks, during storms and lots of snow. And then we can't use things that plug in."
E: "Put new batteries in, Mommy"

Once it started to get dark, it got more fun for her. She has a little lantern that her Gram gave her for Christmas, to go with her little sleeping bag. She thought it was great that we could eat by lantern light. It wasn't quite as fun for us adults (my mother, sister also named Elisabeth, and me) when Elisabeth carried her lantern wherever she went. Finally I went to find us some flashlights so that we could have light even when Elisabeth went to the playroom. Elisabeth wasn't super thrilled that she couldn't carry around the flashlight ("but, I'm very strong, Mommy...").

Around 7pm, Doug came home. He had been in Miami since Tuesday morning, so needless to say, Elisabeth was incredibly excited that he got home. She jumped into his arms, squealing with delight. He asked her what happened to the lights.

E: "They're broken."
D: "Did you break them?"
E: "Nooooooo, I been a good girl."
D: "Then who broke them?"
E: (in a very low voice that she thought we couldn't hear) "Aunt Elisabeth..."