Oh and....

Zoe, 

Lately you've been asking to read the Where Did I Come From? book about how babies are made. It is KILLING me - you're so funny. 

Of course I probably wouldn't have gotten this book for you yet but you're the third kid in this house so you've inherited it early from your sibs. Fine with me - easier to talk to you about early so it doesn't become hard to talk about. 

The last time we read it you said you were just going to call breasts nipples and not breasts. "Mom - penises look like hot dogs!" During the birth part you seemed absolutely horrified that babies come out of a woman's vagina. Also - the umbilical cord grossed you out. 

Tonight you hid under the covers for the sex part and were absolutely out of your mind about the idea of eggs being inside a woman's body. Of course you were thinking chicken eggs. 

You were asking questions and wanting to see videos and we were talking for quite a while and then you refused to settle down to sleep. I said, "Zoe! You need to sleep - stop finding reasons to stay up." and you said, "MOM! Listen. I just didn't know where I came from."

I love you, Bean. 

Dear Emma or Tess or Hope or Kate

Dear Zoe,

Mostly you ask to be called Emma these days. And you ask to call me Quia. Quia, huh? Where on earth did you get that? 

We had kind of a whirlwind September. The 5 day a week peer model preschool didn't turn out to be the kind of preschool experience I was going for for you, so I pulled you out and put you back in Pioneer, which is the very sweet preschool you went to last year. You're in there with your buddy, Abby, and you're very pleased. 

We also went up to Michigan to help your Grandma Patty because she was in a Vespa crash. She fractured her pelvis in three places and broke a rib. I think our visit was mostly a very nice distraction for her but having two rascally kids in the house made things a little chaotic especially when I threw my back out. But - we got to be in Michigan in the fall, which is rare, and that was awesome. 

There are all these things that you say that make me think, "Chelsea! Get it on the blog!" Alas, I'm a procrastinator (I actually won Class Procrastinator in high school - did you know that about me?) and I forget. I remember a few things, though, so here we go:

In preschool you say a prayer before your snack and you were telling me about it one day when we were on the way to the liquor store (you love to go to the liquor store because they give you lollipops, and here in KS you can't buy wine at the grocery store so you have to make special trips - lame). You were trying to get me to say the prayer - you said, "Say this mom - 'God made the sun, God made the trees, God made the mountains, God made me'" and so I did, and then you said, "GOOD! NOW LET'S GO TO THE LIQUOR STORE!"

One of the songs I sometimes sing you and Junie at bedtime is You Can Close Your Eyes by James Taylor. The chorus goes, "So close your eyes, you can close your eyes it's all right. I don't know no love songs and I can't sing the blues anymore." It's a sweet song. The absolute best part of this, though, is that when you request this song you call it "the blues". So when you can't sleep you say, "Mom, will you sing the blues?" Best ever.

You are really excited about turning 5 in a about...6 weeks now. I really can't believe you're going to be 5 so let's just not talk about that right now.

You are growing and changing so much these days. You suddenly became very concerned about what shoes and coats you wear. We spent quite a bit of time in several shoe stores looking for the perfect shoes (you suddenly outgrew all of your shoes). At Target when you were trying on coats, you didn't like the hood on one of them so you said, 'Hmm...this one's not lookin'." And I thought it was funny so I laughed a little and this other woman nearby also laughed. The old you would have gotten upset but you would have hidden behind my leg and waited until the woman was gone to tell me you didn't like that she laughed. But the new-almost-5 you looked right at her, put your hands on your hips and said, "DON'T LAUGH AT ME!" I was pretty impressed. Of course it was slightly rude, but I was just so proud of you for being assertive. Atta girl.

In a few weeks we are going to visit your Aunt Jess in France Cancisco, as you say. I'm super excited to see what you make of it. You're so much fun to travel with - you're always up for anything and just roll with it all so well. I bet you'll be dancing on roller skates wearing a rainbow wig and hot pants in Golden Gate Park by the second day. 

Ooh - and Halloween is coming up. You and Gabby are going to be bees. Bee Princesses to be totally accurate. I can't wait.

I love you, sweet girl. I am so lucky to be your mom. 

Love, 

Mama