Being Five

Being Five 

by Dennis Lee 

I’m not exactly big, 

And I’m not exactly little 

But being Five is best of all 

Because it’s in the middle. 

A person likes to ride his bike 

Around the block a lot 

And being Five is big enough 

And being Four is not. 

And then he likes to settle down 

And suck his thumb a bit, 

And being Five is small enough, 

But when you’re Six you quit. 

I’ve thought about it in my mind - 

Being Five, I mean - 

And why I like it best of all 

Is cause it’s In Between.

There are some days that you seem very mature, and some days I have to remind myself that you are still just a very little kid. Which, I imagine, is probably a recurring theme for much of childhood. When people meet you and see how tall and well-spoken you are (and this is not just a proud mother speaking here; these are comments we frequently hear) and see your missing tooth, they are always surprised to find out how old you actually are. And being a first born, you are generally quite mature and responsible for your age, and even though we try very hard not to, we inevitably expect a lot from you.

This past year has resulted in so many big milestones for you: as mentioned previously, you lost your first tooth! You've had a tiny chip in your front tooth for a couple years now, but in January the enamel finally wore down enough there to cause an infection, so alas, you ended up with a gap-toothed smile a couple years too early. You were incredibly brave about the whole thing (thanks to some calming gas and lots of YouTube videos), and were delighted to get a new Lion King book from the tooth fairy. Because we are all about giving books for milestones in this family!

Speaking of milestones and books, right around the same time as the whole tooth ordeal, something suddenly clicked in your brain and you started reading. I had always hoped that you would be an early reader, and my wish has certainly come true in spades. You started by reading little stories that I would write and illustrate for you (starring you as the International Noff, a self-named superhero with his trusty sidekick, Mssr. Bear aka the International Boff), then quickly read through all the easy board books we had at home (thank you, Sandra Boynton, for your repetitive-but-still-interesting-verse-with-predictable-rhyme-schemes), and now I'm pretty sure you've read through every single  Level 2 Berenstain Bear, Lego and Star Wars book in the Alameda County Library network. Your love of reading warms my heart so much, even when it exasperates me that I have to pry you away from a book every time we make a transition to another activity. You are never available to eat breakfast, change for school, wash hands for dinner, put away your laundry, or take a bath because the minute you have a free moment, you pick up a book. When books are not available, you happily read cereal boxes, signs, maps, basically anything with printed words. The best way to buy myself some time to do what I need to do is to give you some new books, and I know it'll only be a matter of time before I can do what my parents did to me and drop you off at a library or bookstore so that books can babysit you for a couple hours...okay, I jest, but still. I know parents are supposed to assume their children will be their mini-mes, but in this, you really do remind me so much of me as a child.

Along with discovering the joys of reading independently, I've been thrilled to have you become interested in so many of my fandoms this past year. Legos were a huge part of my childhood, and it's been so lovely to rekindle my delight in building Legos as you've been able to both follow instructions for more complicated sets and come up with more sophisticated free-builds. It's amazing to think of how far you've come, from having to be handed every piece and directed on where to put it, to now completing 7-12yo sets on your own in a couple of hours. Thankfully, your grandparents saved a lot of your parents' old sets, so we've had some very sweet parent-child building-and-bonding sessions when your sister is asleep. You've been working very hard in the tomato garden to water, weed, and pick tomatoes to earn your new Jurassic World sets, and a couple of visits to Legoland have certainly helped to stoke the Lego-mania.

You've also finally noticed my collection of Hobbit/LOTR paraphernalia, and this past summer we had several weeks of reading through the Hobbit novel together at bedtime and looking at the WETA art books the next day, as well as listening obsessively to the LOTR soundtracks (cue "Mommy! What's happening now?" every five seconds). I think this Christmas I'm going to try to download the fan-edit of the Hobbit movie and see how that goes. You've already seen all the scary-looking orcs in the art books so hopefully it won't be too much. To go along with having read The Hobbit, we also regularly have "They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" dance parties, which then spiraled into introducing you and BBG to all the fun early video memes of my college/post-college years, like Potter Puppet Pals' "Mysterious Ticking Noise," Weebls' Kenya, Dugong, and Badger Badger Badger songs, and Limewire's "Do What You Want 'Cause A Pirate Is Free." Having wild all-out dance parties our favorite thing to do when Daddy has to go to late work events or church council meetings.

Besides Tolkien, you've also become very interested in Star Wars! You've always had a background acquaintance with the characters' names and images, but had no real idea of what the plot was until 1) you received a book of Star Wars stories for Christmas, 2) I purchased a couple of visual encyclopedias for the new movies for costuming purposes, 3) your bestie Paigey got a whole bunch of lightsabers, and 4) you got good enough at reading to read all the SW books (which only start at reading Level 2). We have now moved on entirely from Octonauts (which were your iPad show of choice for a good majority of the year) costume ideas for Halloween to your now insisting the whole family be various SW characters.

And now that you're not into Octonauts anymore (*sniff* it was bound to happen though, with no new episodes coming out), your teethbrushing show of choice is Sesame Street. And while I don't know that I would ever have said that Sesame Street was a "fandom" of mine, it really makes me happy to see you loving the same characters I loved when I was your age. Bonus: their wholesome, diverse programming doesn't drive me crazy or introduce any weird/bad habits and phrases, and it's geared toward a wide enough range of ages that you and BBG can both enjoy it together.

Which brings us to BBG! You guys have grown SO. MUCH. in your relationship. I know I keep saying that things thrill me or warm my heart, but seriously, this one really does. I was worried for a long, long time that you two didn't interact much at all or seem to like one another much (okay, BBG liked you just fine, but it was hard for you when it seemed like she was only intent on destroying your Legos or flipping book pages too fast), and I was afraid that your long hours at preschool would keep you guys from growing close. But as I previously observed in your interactions with Evie, Gus, and Kina, once a toddler starts being able to talk, you suddenly start seeing them as a real person that you can actually play with. Babbling babies are anathema to you, but when someone can express likes and dislikes and make (semi-)conversation, ahhh, a whole new level of interaction is possible! You guys can now (somewhat) cooperatively build Duplos and Legos together, you are (occasionally) willing to read to her, and you enjoy the same shows and songs and dances. There are certainly still many moments of NOOO BB!!!! but these are becoming less frequent. You are beginning to take on some perceived responsibility for her, even if a lot of it is policing her manners and whereabouts, but you also think to save snacks for her and pick toys and books for her.

In school, you are doing your kindergarten year at GVM. It's nice that you can have the consistency of the same teachers and environment, but it's been a little bit of a struggle to have most of your same-age cohort graduate and move on to actual elementary schools. You've always been a go-with-the-pack kind of kid, so it's harder to get you to do challenging jobs when so many of your classmates are younger than you. Still, we're seeing growth in your fine motor skills...when you care about the subject matter. You can color beautifully if it's a map of the world or the solar system, but if it's some random people and fruits, it's huge scribbles just to cover ground with no regard for the lines. It is sweet, though, that Ms. Doris has named you her teacher's assistant and you've been reading books to the group for circle time. Socially, things have been roller-coaster-y, with most of your good friends leaving on vacations to India. You spent the summer hanging with the one remaining kid from your friend group, but he was very into bodily function humor and exaggerated stories, which meant we had to spend a lot of time talking about appropriate language for appropriate places, and that goblins aren't actuallly coming to get you, but thankfully that was quickly corrected once he left for kindergarten elsewhere. Now, you are learning a lot about perceived gender rules, as some of the remaining boys have been telling you that certain colors are for boys or girls, or that if all the boys are playing in the sandbox that you have to join them. I've been doing my best to correct these notions, but we'll see how that pans out. It is very helpful that you've maintained your friendship with Paigey; you are reminded every time you guys hang out that girls can make great playmates.

Looking into the future, you are starting Mandarin lessons with Mr. Max at my school, in preparation for hopefully joining a Mandarin Immersion Program next year at public school. You've just started riding a bike with training wheels, so Daddy is hoping that once your leg muscles have built up some, you guys can actually go riding together. You claim to want to be an astronaut when you grow up, or maybe a police officer. Of course, Daddy and I are pushing for the "oh, if you want to be an astronaut you're going to need to be very good at math and science" angle, because we wouldn't be us if we didn't. But whatever you decide to be, we will do our best to support and prepare you.

I know that in saying this I'm jinxing things, but I really am so grateful that God gave us such a sweet, responsible, chill, funny and intelligent boy. The last few months, especially have been especially delightful because I feel like we are in a really good place with you, with no sleeping, eating, behavioral, or other problems to worry about; we can just sit back and watch you blossom and laugh at your funny stories and feel our hearts swell with pride every time we see you care for your sister or clean up after yourself without prompting. I hear that ages 5-9 are the most fun for parents, and its certainly shaping up that way. Can't wait to see what happens next for and with you, my bestest buddiest bud bud bud!

Four Will Be Very Loud. FOUR DAH DAH DAH!*

That lobster keeps getting smaller and smaller, and it gets trickier and trickier to coerce you into lying still for a picture.

You at age four, both in your own words and in mine (in parentheses):

If you could change your name, what would it be instead of Zachary? Hoogie Noogie Oogaga!
My favorite toy is: my vehicles (specifically construction vehicles, and also your Kinder Egg dinosaurs)
My favorite book is: the big big dinosaur book that Auntie Candy gave me (I would agree with that assessment, and also add the Dinosaur Rocket/Dig/Zoom/Pirates series)
My favorite food is: bacon and eggs for breakfast and peach and plum (also cherng fun and hash browns)
My favorite show is: Storybots and Daniel Tiger and just some of the Octonauts (all true)
My favorite song is: Rat Race and the planet song *starts singing it* And theT. Rex song. I like that one too (also Baby Shark)
My favorite animal is: Zebra because they have black and white stripes and I like stripes (also stegosaurus)
My favorite planet is: Mars, because I like red.
My favorite place to go is: Paigey's house. I like going to the zoo too (now that you've been to Legoland, I think that might be the new winner)
My favorite thing about school is: There's lots of friends to play with.
My favorite thing about BBG is: She says "Ah da!"
My favorite thing about Daddy is: he makes silly faces and silly stories.
My favorite thing about Mommy is: I like reading books with you.
My favorite thing about Walnut is: He goes meow meow meow like a usual cat.
What will you be when you grow up? I will be a dinosaur trainer and BBG will be a porg! (You've also said that you will be a palontologist and a zookeeper.)
What are you good at doing?  Coloring fishes at the aquarium. I'm good at carrying some things, like Friendly Zebra and Mr. Bear. (IMO, you have an incredible memory.)

Who is your best friend? Paigey (truth)

What do you guys like to play together? Bellybuttons! The same slide. We like to play with Cassidy too. (So sweet of you to include Cassidy! You guys also love playing Octonauts and running away from KRey the monster.)

What was your favorite thing you did this year? Our whole family goed to the zoo and we ride the gondola. (Pretty sure it's Legoland now.)

What makes you laugh? Singing bellybuttons songs with Paigey makes me laugh. 

What makes you happy? Silly songs. Friends with silly noises. 

What makes you sad? If you go away I will get sad.
What makes you angry? Angry crashes of cars going "ksshhhh" into mountains. And they'll get stuck if there's a monster. (Also when BBG gets into your things.)
If you could be an animal, what would you be and why? A T. Rex because I like to be scary!

What does Mommy say to you a lot? Hotcakes. (I don't think I've ever said that to him.)

What does Daddy say to you a lot? Silly phrases like "Hobble nobble dobble" on the first day of school. (They have a silly phrase before drop-off routine.)

What do you like to learn about? Dinosaurs! I like to learn about Stegosaurus. (Also body parts, planets, and animals.)

What do you think love is? Love means that you hug somebody.
Okay, so when you say you love bacon, does that mean you should hug it? Yes.
But then your shirt will get all sticky! If you just hug it softly then your shirt will not get sticky.
Oh, I see. So what happens if you hug somebody but you don't actually love them? You will die and turn into a fossil.  

Quotes from the last few months:

After a discussion about cat and dog doors: "Friendly zebra needs a zebra flap so he can go inside houses. He keeps asking me for a zebra flap."

"Some time I can go to Mars, when I’m bigger."

"This isn’t naan bread, it’s nonsense!"

"I caught an old boot! What kind of fish is it? It was a self-fish! The old boot was a selfish!"

We frequently tell you we can't go to the zoo because it's not open until a certain time: "We can’t go to Daiso! It’s not open til 15 degrees. Right now is only 98 one."

I asked you to tell me a story: "Me and all my friends took a hot air balloon to the Oakland Zoo. They were so excited to walk around there. We saw some eggs...brown ones! They hatched and they had candies inside. They had no eyes. They were duck eggs and they had ducks inside the candies!"

"When I grow up I’m going to drive a red car. I will match PohPoh!"

After hearing a mention of quicksand: "Who’s queen Sarah? Will she die if she gets too old?"

"Why is BBG’s mouth so small? Because God made her that way!"

"Zebras and horses have four legs. Zebras and horses make sense. Humans only have two legs. Humans don’t make sense. If humans had tens legs we would be so silly!"

"BBG is new because she was in your tummy. I was in your tummy too. When I was in your tummy, BBG was in the back. I was in the front and she was in the back so you can’t see her."

After a discussion about the twilight zone in the ocean on Octonauts, and  hearing us later mentioning it was twilight because it was evening: "Do we live in the Twilight Zone now?"

We said you couldn't have any of our specialty iced coffee drink because coffee was for grown-ups: "Definitely when I'm 15, me and Daddy can drink coffee. I'll have one every morning!"

After showing you a map of the locations of volcanoes in the world: "North America does not have a lot of volcanoes. Sorry, North America! Maybe you can share some with Asia."

I told you that weasels live in holes, and I've also frequently said "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit," so when we talked about how fossils are made: "They're buried in the ground? Like in holes? But they're not weasels or hobbits!"

Pouring milk into your cereal bowl apparently brought flashbacks of helping Daddy in the garden: "It’s like watering the garden, but milking the cereal."

After reading the Animal Bodies book, where it talked about what animals have body parts adapted for their lifestyle: "I have a very good shaped nose for smelling the tomatoes."

"BBG is my baby. You need to grow another baby for you and daddy."

Regarding Uncle Joey: "Is Paigey’s uncle a baby kangaroo?"

That time you recognized the "zo" on the Zojirushi and because it’s got an elephant on it as well, you drew the obvious conclusion: "Is that from the zoo?"

When PohPoh stayed over while Daddy was on a business trip: "You can have my zebra blanket so you won't get cold!"

Anthropomorphizing unnecessarily: "I’m sorry broccolini! My daddy knocked over your container!"

Watching a video of a penguin chick being born, after declaring that we are a penguin family, and he is a baby penguin: "Oh look at me! I’m so little and cute!"

"Mommy, we have two random animals in our family: a cat and a porg."

Our family's origin story: "One day when I was little me and Mommy were having special Mommy Bebbers time and Daddy went to Home Depot and bought our house and then he put it down on the ground and then we came back with the perfect pet and it was Walnut and he was so nice and brown and then we went inside the house and ate dinner."

How to make bread: "First you mix it ten times and then cut it and throw it in the air and put it in the oven with some water and then you boil it in a pot and then you cook it and then you have to put some potatoes in it and then you have to mash it with one mig smash and then you have to put some strawberries and smash it again and then you put even some dinosaur stickers on a paper and then you eat it up and that's how you make it. Will you tell your mommy and daddy what you learned from me?"

Advice to new parents: "Keep the baby safe by keeping it in the house. Feed the baby food like strawberries and blueberries and pineapples and steak and stuff like that. They should stay with the baby so the baby doesn't get sad."

Having issues with how to express that it's been a long time since going to the bakery: "I’ve never been to 85 for any longer!"

When you saw the Alameda County abbreviation on the bus: "Does the AC bus mean it’s cold?"

After helping Daddy weed the garden: "I wish we had a Brachiosaurus to eat our weeds."

TL;DR: You are very silly and really into learning about the natural world. Good thing I'm a kind of goofy science teacher? No but really, your capacity for learning and remembering is awesome, and I am constantly impressed by your brain; your silliness generally amuses me and it's a delight to hear what you come up with. It's hard, though, as a Ravenclaw-leaning parent of a Ravenclaw child, to remember that there's more to teach you than just cleverness and books. We're working on the friendship and bravery (and oh, Harry, being careful, too).

*Title courtesy of the game we play in the car on the way home from church: we take turns counting in different voices (loud/soft/fast/slow/high/low/smooth/staccato) in order to help keep BBG from falling asleep in the car.

Three Point Six Six Six Six Six

A snapshot of life with a three and half year old you...two months late.

Reading the Sandra Boynton animal ABCs book, we get to "G is for groundhogs grinning." 
You: I never seen a groundhog before. Why I never seen a groundhog before Mommy?
Me: Probably because they live underground.
Later we get to "V isfor vicuna violinning."
You: I never seen a vicuna before. Is it because it lives underground?"

Motherhood achievement unlocked: you picked flowers for me. 

We are looking through the Star Wars Visual Dictionary, one of your favorite "picture books." You especially love Finn "the sick guy," the Praetorian Guards (aka "the red guys") rathtars, BB-8, flametroopers, and the alien waiting to get a massage on Canto Bight. 
You: Why this guy doesn't have a lightsaber?
Me: Because only Jedi have lightsabers. Luke Skywalker has a lightsaber because he's a Jedi.
You: Is Darth Vader a Jedi? He has a lightsaber!
Me: *ponders how to explain the Sith and the Dark Side of the Force*
You: I like Darth Vader because his lightsaber is red.

This thrifted jacket is your favorite because it's red. When your teacher asked us to dress you in red for Chinese New Year celebrations at school, we were like, he's ready for CNY everyday.

Your other favorite books right now: Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Chicka Chicka 1 2 3, The Berenstain Bears, Dino Dig/Zoom/Rescue/Pirates/Rocket, Sheep in a Shop, Happy Birthday Little Pookie, and (still) the Encyclopedia of Animals and The Ultimate Dinopedia.

Your best "friend" right now is Friendly Zebra, a Christmas present from your grandma.
Mssr. Bear has sadly been demoted. 

Zebras and herbivorous dinosaurs are still big in your world, as are African herbivores and Arctic & marine mammals. You've started to grok that dinosaurs are extinct but still have trouble with the concept that they were once real animals that lived on Earth, but unicorns and monsters are imaginary and have never been real. You like to check with me on what things are real and what things are make-believe, like some kind of bizarre PTSD Peeta in the Hunger Games homage. You are especially curious about the diets and predators of various animals, so I spend a lot of time looking things up on whateats.com. We've tried discussing food chains but because you identify so strongly with plant-eaters, you get quite upset about the idea of predators ever succeeding in catching and killing prey, so you always insist that the prey animal has successfully defended itself with its spiky tail/hooves/speed/other defensive mechanism. On the flip side, this self-identification means we have very little trouble getting soluble fiber into your diet because all it takes is a reminder that zebras love eating green things.

You love that jacket and your zebra pants so much, you wanted Friendly Zebra to have a matching outfit. The ridiculousness of making zebra-print pants for an actual zebra was lost on you.

Things that are definitely not your favorites: creepy-crawlies ("There's a buggy! There's a buggy! Daddy can you kill it?"), unexpected loud noises ("I don't like those dog soundses."), having to wash your hands after using "the pod" when you're in a hurry to get back to doing something, unauthorized people touching Friendly Zebra ("But he's very special to me, Mommy."), any kind of game where an adult pretends to be a carnivore chasing you, shadows at night, Kylo Ren and furries at Comicon, meat (except expensive steak and chicken nuggets), and BBG saliva on your toys.

Your zebra costume got another unexpected outing when we went to SVCC. I had grand plans to dress you up as a Praetorian Guard to match my Dark Rey and BBG's porg, but you were adamant about being a superhero zebra. Friendly Zebra went along with his own matching cape. You did not like all the huge dressed up characters wandering around, but loved the free Yakult. 

On days at home, you love listening to music on the pig [speaker], and it's both amusing and slightly annoying to hear you singing old nursery rhymes ("Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea...Sukey take it off again, they've all gone away") and then asking endless questions about them ("What's a kettle? Why don't they use a teapot? Why do they want tea? Why did they all go away?"). When we're in Daddy's car on the freeway for a decent stretch, we'll let you listen to the Stories Podcast. You started by listening to "Dinosaur Christmas" about fifty times, then moved on to the "Gingerbread Man," "Old Lion Bold Lion," "Three Little Pigs," "The Little Red Hen," and basically any story that has both animals and songs. You've absorbed this podcast's style so much, the other day I overheard you telling a story to Friendly Zebra and you finished it by saying "The end! This has been a story by Daniel Hinds." In my car, we tend to listen to either the Moana soundtrack or any of the four VeggieTales soundtracks. You find the most random things funny ("Were those eyeballs in the closet?" "Got any Ritz Bits?" "Smells a little musty." "What's a gwumpkey?") and will repeat them over and over to yourself and crack up.

Things that are important to you: red and zebras. 

We sing a lot of songs together during the day, and when you repeat them it's funny to hear your interpretation of some of the more obscure lyrical references. For example, the countdown in the Hamilton duel is "One two three four five six seven eight nine number ten paces FIVE!" Because in your world, repeating a random number at the end of a string of numbers makes more sense than yelling "FIRE!" Or instead of "My Bonnie lies over the ocean," you sing "My bunny lies over the ocean" (cue endless questions about what a bunny is doing in the ocean). Or when we had steak and you informed us it was actually "a staken" because of the nursery rhyme "Bat, bat, under my hat, I'll give you a slice of bacon; when I wake I'll bake you a cake, if I'm not [a staken]."

The meals where you and BBG can eat the same thing as Mommy and Daddy are steadily increasing! 

He had a good long run, but now you are so over Daniel Tiger for teethbrushing; instead, Octonauts is all the rage. Tunip is your favorite character and you would like to be him (it?) for Halloween. For your birthday you go back and forth between wanting a Gup A or D cake or the rainbow balloon cake from Costco. Besides your fifteen minutes of teethbrushing + Netflix, we've now expanded your screen time to allowing you twenty minutes of iPad games on the days you don't have school. You enjoy the Duplo games, Moose Math, Elmo 123, and some random other free educational games. What's really surprised me is that you (so far, knock on wood) have excellent self-control when it comes to these and other "treats." When the allotted episode or game time is up, you know to pause your video or game and then close the iPad. Even if I'm busy with BBG, you don't sneak extra time. Same goes for your daily jellybean (the big container is within reach on the counter, but you only ever get one for yourself, and when a rare request for more is refused, you are fine with that answer) and weekly ice cream (I overheard you telling your babysitter at my school that you ice cream is only for Saturdays). Would that you could retain that self-control as you get older!

Preferred flavor of ice cream: strawberry if it's available (because red), and if not, vanilla. 

Thanks to the Octonauts, Harry and the dinosaurs books, and the WWF catalog, you now know about the concept of endangered animals. We talked about various forms of pollution and the other day you tried to stop a visitor from getting a straw with their drink because "it's bad for the whales, right Mommy?" You are currently saving money earned from helping Daddy in the garden, but you go back and forth between wanting to use your money for the Duplo animal set, or for saving the endangered animals. We'll see what actually happens when the crucial decision time comes...

You started full-time preschool at "the school next to Trader Joe's" shortly before turning three, and it was there that you learned about all sorts of characters that are big with the under-five crowd: Paw Patrol, PJ Masks, and various Disney characters. The hilarious thing is that you don't actually know anything about them other than the random bits gleaned from your classmates' play, so you keep asking me about this and that but I don't know anymore than you do what it is that Chase does or the name of that green guy. You also learned random Spanish songs, Bible songs, and rote prayers from your actual teachers, as well as how to use scissors and eat cucumbers. Otherwise, things were kind of boring for you since you already had your alphabet and numbers 1-10 down pat before even starting there. Things got especially hard when you stopped napping and had to sit quietly on your cot for two hours every afternoon. We decided that the school wasn't a great fit for you so a couple of months ago, you switched over to a 3-days-a-week Montessori school. I don't know if it's the change in pedagogy or being in a classroom with bigger kids or what, but suddenly you are much more independent...and Really Into Numbers. You love counting, pretending to add ("1+1 makes 2! 2+2 makes 3! 4+5 makes 6!"), putting things into progressively larger groups, pretending to measure things ("BBG weighs thirty-two one!"), trying to write numbers, making up songs about numbers ("One! Dah dah dah! Two! Dah dah dah!") and reading books about numbers. Oh yeah, you're still really into reading. Going to the library is a favorite outing, rest time = reading time, your favorite thing about going to Costco is the books, and when I asked you if you miss anything/anyone at your old school, you told me you only missed the books. You most definitely are my child!

Wearing one of your favorite shirts (herbivorous dinosaur! red double decker bus!) on your last day with Miss Tess.

I asked you what your favorite work is at school and you said numbers. 

It's so interesting to see you show more and more traits of mine as you continue growing; some, like a love of books, I'm thrilled about. There are other things though, like preferring solitary stuffed animal play and getting nervous in large groups and having no interest in sports, that make me a little concerned -- not that I think there's anything wrong with those things, but I remember how those things made school social navigation a little harder. I need to remember to back off and let go and hope that you emerge on the other side of middle school more resilient and confident in who you are than I did. So far, you are more than happy to march to the beat of your own drum, whether that's reading in the corner while playdate chaos erupts around you, or playing that you are a zebra running around on the playground when all the other boys are robots, or insisting on wearing your fandoms (zebras and polar bears) in the form of fleece pajamas when it's so warm that everyone else is in shorts and tee-shirts. I hope you retain that surety of self as you grow up!

Hopefully you like science too. 

Now that you've gotten more settled into the big brother role BBG is older, it's so fun to see you two interact. She thinks everything you do in endlessly fascinating and laughs hardest at your antics. You are pleased to ham it up for her, but are less appreciative of her trying to show love by pulling your hair/pants/toys. You are okay with letting her play with your second tier toys (Buddy Bear, all the predators, the less desirable vehicles) and sharing your non-favorite foods, but we'll have to work on true sharing in the future. You frequently request for her to join you in the bathtub but then get upset when she inevitably splashes you. A common request is for Daddy to take BBG away so that we can have "special Mommy-Bebbers time, just the two of us!" There are glimpses of brotherly love, though, like the other day when I had my hands full and you spontaneously fetched her dropped puffs and then, when she was finished, told her "Okay BBG, time to go roll around on the floor!" and then tried to lift her out of her high chair. Thankfully I saw that and was able to stop you before any accidents occurred, but it was a sweet thought nonetheless.

Pussy hats for all!

Since your preference for Mommy is quite clear, bedtime routine is usually just me. We read together,  get endless last sips of water, then you turn off the light with a cardboard tube and we snuggle while you get the option of song, story, or questions. For a while it was "The Friendly Beasts" with added verses for extra animals, then it was questions (" Why do we need windows? What's a fair? What do wildebeests do to defend themselves against predators?"), and now we are on a story kick (usually a rehash of your day with extra fantastical elements thrown in). Then we pray, do fifty last hugs and kisses, then you may or may not wake up multiple times at night because of coughing, BBG crying, losing one of your stuffed animals among the twenty or so in your bed, needing the blankets rearranged into a nest/"burrino/spread out so you can see the letters, or because of shadows.

Another red thrift store shirt for Mother's Day!

It can be frustrating to have you home Wednesday and Thursday and then have multiple wake-ups to deal with as well, but there is also the joy of seeing you smile at me and pronounce that you love me, the oxytocin rush of the snuggles you still enjoy ("Mommy, can you keep me safe?" is your code phrase for wanting to be enveloped in my arms), and the fun of seeing what you come up with in your imaginative play. Parents of my high school students frequently tell me that they miss when their kids were that little because now they just want to hang out with their friends, so as exhausted as I am now, I try my best to remember that the days are long, but the years are short.

Three! Three! Three is Thee!

(Okay, okay, I know it really ought to be "art thou" instead of "is thee," but I had to make it rhyme so that it would fit into the Count's song.)

Dear Zachary,

I know it's been a challenging couple of months, what with the arrival of Baby Eliza and starting full-time preschool. Growing up is hard, isn't it? I'm proud of how you've weathered the changes, though, and look forward to seeing how you continue learning your new roles as big brother and preschooler.

When you first met Baby Eliza, you were shyly pleased, especially when she opened her eyes to look at you. Unfortunately, you developed a bad cold the day after and it was rough going for all involved once she came home: you had a lot of big feelings and wanted to sit on Mommy's lap, but Eliza needed to nurse a lot, and you ended up with hours of screen time in order to pacify you and keep your wheezing at a minimum. After that inauspicious beginning, you've mostly alternated between ignoring her (easy to do since she spends a lot of time sleeping) and asking to have her watch you doing whatever you're doing. It's sweet that you want her company, especially since only a select group of people get requests to be your audience during dinner, bath time, etc. You are also genuinely helpful little person to have around when it comes to fetching her burp cloths! Sometimes, though, you are a little too helpful, like the time you tried to bicycle her legs for her when she was upset but didn't know your own strength. Even though you're at preschool most of the day/week, I do hope that as she gets older and more interactive you guys develop a close relationship.

Speaking of preschool...that has been an interesting journey as well. Every morning you say you don't want to go, but when you get home you say you liked it and that you had fun. You've had the opportunity to do lots more art and outside play, but the trade-off is that you get ridiculously hangry every evening when you come home and very attached to me until you go to sleep. It's nice to have you be more affectionate, but less nice when you insist it *has* to be Mommy who does bath, book-reading, and bedtime routine when there's also a baby to nurse. You're also a lot goofier and crazier in the evenings, probably because you're letting off steam from having to follow the school structure and rules all day. The other consequence of full-time preschool that's been hard is no more Sanity Club meet-ups with your little toddler friends. You miss Paigey a lot and ask about Cassidy and Gus Gus occasionally, and you specifically asked for the older kids (Paigey, Cassidy, and Wes) to be at your birthday party (but also adamantly specified that you didn't want any of the younger kids there).

It's been an adventure ushering you into threenagerhood, and while I'm admittedly scared about how I'm going to help you through all the big feelings, I trust that God will help us through. It's both funny and sad to see how my delight and exasperation at your toddler-ness must mirror His attitude toward me and my foibles, but oh so illuminating as well! If I, with my finite human patience, love you so much, how much more so our Creator; I pray that you come to know Him personally soon.

Happiest of birthdays, my darling boy!

Love,
Mommy

I made you a commemorative birthday poster of all your "friends" around a Daniel Tiger tiger cake.

Here's what they look like in real life: Buddy Bear, Mr. Harlo, Ice Cream Penguin, Pete/Pot the giraffe, Christmas Zebra, Piggy Wiggy, Mrs. Hippo, Baby Bear, Smiley, Mameshiba, Blue Rhino, Mssr. Bear, Lion King, Yellow Doggie, Baa Baa Black Sheep, The Cheese Stands Alone, Key-Cat, Pig Stuff, Cow Stuff, and Tiny Elephant.

And here you are with your actual tiger cake during your birthday party!

As you develop more verbal acuity, it's been fun to write down the silly things you say. You especially love making up nonsense words and giving them ridiculous definitions. A typical conversation:

You: I want to read a book about bip.
Mommy: What's a bip?
You: It's a kind of mouse. It's like a kannum.
Mommy: What's a kannum?
You: Ummmm...it's really big. It eats plants.
Mommy: Is it a dinosaur?
You: No, it's like a cat.

A further sampling of vocabulary-according-to-Zachary below:

• Pabbin: a dude that looks like a fireman gum 
• Baddum: a shirt that says URC on it  
• Bingbasso: a really tall tower that falls over so you have to be careful 
• S-------- (some really long bunch of nonsense syllables that I couldn't keep track of): a bunch of spiders all over you 
• P--------: a specialized red truck

You also like making up dinosaurs, such as Sowestodon, a dino that eats cereal, and Whale-stegosaurus, a kind of dino that lives in the sea and has an armored tail and bony plates and a really big mouth.

It's also hilarious seeing what kind of things you pick up by listening to us talk. For instance, we frequently spell out things to keep you from figuring out what we're talking about (although thanks to that habit, you now know how to spell zoo), and I guess that was happening pretty frequently since last weekend you asked, "Are we going to M-O-P?" Pretty sure you were just stringing random letters together, but it was still pretty great. And because of all this spelling, you've been trying to figure out how to spell other words: you named your giraffe Pete (but she's a girl giraffe) and then told me that it was spelled P O T. I guess it's got the right consonant sounds in there? Your ability to pick up on what we say also sadly helps to reveal how much of an impact social media has on our lives, as the other day you asked if you could have some "Instagram crackers" for snack, as opposed to graham crackers...

Usually in these updates I like writing about your current likes and dislikes, but now that you're old enough, I'll let you speak for yourself. 

What's your name? "Zachary!"
How do you spell your name? "Z A C C R H Y."

How old are you now? "Three!"

How old is Mommy? "Four."

How old is Daddy? "Uhhhh...one!" *giggling ensues*

Favorite color: (very emphatically) "RED!"
Favorite letter: "B."

Favorite stuffed animal friend: "My teddy bear."

Favorite song: "The Room Where it Happens!" 

Favorite Hamilton character: "Aaron Burr. Because he says AH! I like King George too. He laughs like a silly person."

Favorite marine animal: "Dugong! It's the cow of the sea!"

Favorite land animal(s): "Giraffe! And alligators and lions!" (not at all coincidentally, the three animals featured in his daily gummy multivitamin)

Favorite dinosaur: "T. Rex! It eats stegosauruses." (Ever since we watched the dinosaur bit on Fantasia, he's been obsessed with the diets of various dinosaurs.)

Favorite book: "Dino Dinner. It's at the San Lorenzo library." (We only borrowed it once a couple months ago and he wasn't particularly interested in it then. His real favorite books, based on frequency of reading requests, are probably the Maps children's atlas, the Mother Goose nursery rhyme collection, his children's Bible, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Lion's Share.)

Favorite food: "Big cheese!" (He hasn't actually liked big slices of cheese in at least four months. If I were to answer this I'd say frozen novelties of all sorts.)
Favorite fruit: "Fruit eyeball!!!" (That's what he calls longan, because that's what Go Go Grapes calls them.)

Favorite musical instrument: "Guitar. Because it's in classical music." (Not really, but okay. He also frequently pretends that long-ish objects are flutes.)
Favorite shirt: "My London shirt. It's from Auntie Candy."

It has a dinosaur riding a red double-decker bus, all three of which are extremely interesting to you.

Who's your best friend: "Paigey."

What do you like to do? "Read." (True. Earlier this week when Eric picked him up from preschool, he had brought a book with him to read on top of the frog structure.)
What does Daddy like to do? "Go to work."

What does Mommy like to do? "Hold hands with me! So we can go to Target."

What does Baby Eliza like to do? "Eat 奶奶. She likes to spit up! "

What makes you happy? "Giraffe blankie. Your piyo piyo." (Piyo piyo is the word he made up to describe all blankets that have a microfiber fleece texture.)

What makes you sad? "I don't know." (Whenever I ask him to wash his hands there is almost always a storm of tears.)

What makes you laugh? "The giraffe [from the Duplo game], because he laughed."
What makes you scared? "YOU!!!" *dissolve into maniacal laughter* (In reality, bugs.)

What does Daddy do for work? "I don't know. Pleasanton."

Where do you live? "San Lorenzo."

Where is your favorite place to go? "The ice cream store." (We have never gone to an ice cream store. But he will frequently request to go to Target, Costco, Trader Joe's, and the Lego store.)

What is something you are good at? *silence for several minutes as he lines up his cars* "Lining them up." (Which is actually pretty indicative of reality: he's good at staying focused on something when he cares about it, and he does like lining things up and sorting them.)

What do you want to be when you grow up? "I don't know. A giraffe. Because it has brown spots. Not black spots."

What is love? "Jesus." (I have never specifically taught him this, so it's a pretty great spontaneous answer...now he just needs to add in God and the Bible and he'll have the perfect Sunday School answer.)

Of course, even though you are capable of expressing yourself, you still have your little toddler pronunciation quirks (hostubble for hospital, paint-facing instead of face-painting), which I love and will be sad when you grow out of them. 

You have never really been into using writing implements, but ever since starting preschool you've gotten more into using markers and crayons. Here's your most recent drawing, with captions dictated to Mommy. The yeti cracks me up because it is actually a fair approximation of the drawing in one of your books. 

Your memory is pretty amazing to me; you can recite many of your favorite books with some minimal prompting (e.g. the whole of What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night). You'll also randomly remember inconsequential things like how Wes has a yellow bib with a bear on it (you've only seen it once, a month ago). 

You like spelling out the titles of books and announcing what you think they say. You also want to know what every single vaguely animal-looking thing is called, which resulted in me reading you a bunch of creature names from the Monster Manual. I tried to specify that the Otyugh, Rakshasa, Manticore, and Orcus were not real animals, but I'm not sure if you  understood. 

It's funny seeing how much language fascinates you, as you love singing songs with all the same tunes as classic children's songs, but with all the words replaced by rhyming nonsense syllables. You are also very curious about how words are spelled, and can do a decent job of guessing spellings with our help sounding words out; unfortunately words like "elephant" and "night" cause you trouble with the "ph" and "gh"...oh English, why must you be such a tricky language! 

Speaking of tricky English, you are a great example of universal grammar and the language acquisition device, with your grammatical-and-yet-not "mouses" and "antelopes." Other psych principles you exemplify are the yet-to-be-developed theory of mind, as you show me books by facing them toward yourself. I look forward to next year when we can try the marshmallow test!

On the Eve of Big Brotherhood

Because who knows when I'll find the time again to write down what you're like, here are some quick snapshots of what you're like at 2.75 years old and about to lose your only child status:

I've always been grateful that you are more like me than I could have anticipated or dared to hope, what with enjoying reading and all, but more and more it looks like you're turning out to be a little geek with all of my fandoms! Of course, that might be a function of spending most of your waking hours with me. Two of my first obsessions as an elementary schooler were Star Wars and dinosaurs, and you are into both! I didn't purposefully set out to make you so, but now that you are, more or less of your own volition, can I just say that I'm so incredibly glad that it wasn't trains or construction vehicles you decided to obsess over? I don't know anything about Thomas or dumptrucks, nor do I care, but I am happy to read my old Star Wars trilogy book with you and talk about Jabba and the rancor and X-wings and the Milennium Falcon. I love seeing you figure out the difference between diplodocus vs. brachiosaurus, stegosaurus vs. kentrosaurus, etc. I am also thrilled that your love of dinosaurs gave me a chance to make a whole bunch of plush dinosaur toys! We are now on month three of basically only checking out dinosaur books from the library, and you know the names of a good thirty or forty dinosaurs and what makes them unique and what kind of food they eat. When asked (and sometimes even when not asked), you are happy to explain to adults that triceratops has a bony frill and that ankylosaurus has a club on its tail and that dimetrodon has a sail on its back, etc. You are also still really into animals in general and we have graduated from talking about meat eaters vs. plant eaters to talking about the difference between mammals and reptiles and amphibians, types of habitats, continents, and inner organs. I love that you love learning!

You have recently gotten really into doing puzzles. You have a few big floor puzzles and some smaller Finding Dory ones, and it's been so interesting seeing you go from needing lots of help to being basically independent in figuring out new puzzles. The other week we hit the thrift store jackpot and found six new floor puzzles for 20% of the retail price, so let's hope you stay into puzzles for a while.

Rhyming is also a big thing. I think it started from singing silly made-up songs in the car with Daddy on the weekends when we drive back from Berkeley or the peninsula, but you've finally gotten the concept of switching out the first sound of a word and then you giggle like mad when you have a nonsense rhyme. Prime example: yell-singing "Room where it happens! Doom where it happens! Tomb where it happens! Boom where it happens!" or "A dot ham! A dot jam! A dot dam! A dot wham!" while laughing like a maniac.

Speaking of the room where it happens and A Dot Ham, you are super into Hamilton and I love it! You favorite songs most recently have progressed from the King George songs to the Room Where It Happens and Who Tells Your Story, although the Ten Duel Commandments remains a top request. With Room Where It Happens, you love pointing out that chess is a game, and that Aaron Burr goes "Iiiiiiiiiiiiii, I wannna be in the room where it happens..." Something about that drawn out I is hilarious to you. One time you came home after listening to it in the car and pretended to cook some sausage, and you said it was for Alexander Hamilton's dinner. You love when Eliza Hamilton sings in Who Tells Your Story, and you have to tell me she wears a blue dress every time. A little more disturbing is that you love pointing out that Aaron Burr is getting angry in The World Was Wide Enough, and then after the gunshot you gleefully pronounce Alexander Hamilton to be dead...

You are also a big fan of "I'm So Shiny" from the Moana soundtrack, although you are very quick to also point out that you don't actually like Tamatoa, although you like his song? It's all very confusing to me. Anyway, this also means you get really excited to see the big crabs in the tanks at Chinese restaurants like Fusion Delight. Other favorite songs currently include "the African animal song," aka "The Circle of Life," and "Hakuna Matata" ("Mom! They eating grubs!"). VeggieTales in general remains a hit as well.

Although screen time is slowly increasing, you are still a big reader. You still gravitate toward the books in new places, church childcare workers continue to tell us that you love reading, and the other day I wanted to laugh and kiss you when you told me you had to stop eating breakfast because you had to read something first. I insisted that you finish breakfast before reading, but inside I wanted to cheer! At night and before naps, you'll take all the books off your shelf and read them to your friends before sleeping.

Speaking of your friends, it's been so fun to see you develop your imagination and use your stuffed animals in creative reenactments of whatever you did that day. You've used Mssr. Bear, Ice Cream Penguin, Mr. Harlow, Piggy Wiggy, and Christmas Zebra to recreate trips to the bakery, to the park for picnics, to the restaurant (complete with menus and to go boxes!), to ride the bus, and all sorts of other situations. Christmas Zebra has been a surprising new addition to your inner circle, but you seriously love her and have been bringing her with you everywhere. She comes with us in the car, and you always check whether zebras are allowed at the library or Target or wherever we're going. Unfortunately, because she's so large and unwieldy, she always has to stay in the car. You also use her as a reason why you need to do something (e.g. eat ice cream, or listen to Moana), because she's never done it before or it's her favorite. Nice try, toddler, but you're still not getting random ice cream.

When you first received Christmas Zebra, I told you she was a gift from Evie and her parents, Auntie Jennilyn and Uncle Steve. You surprised me by stating that you like Uncle Steve a lot and that he was cooking at Paigey's house; we hadn't talked about that night in a long time! Your memory is so good for random things like that; the other day you kept asking what was "parkaking," but because of your toddler pronunciation we couldn't figure out what you were talking about, until suddenly you announced that you remembered it was pie. When we figured out you meant piecaken, we were astounded because we haven't mentioned it since last Thanksgiving.

You have been getting really into gardening, inasmuch as that's possible for a toddler. You always ask to go into the garden to water and pick tomatoes; when given a chance to play with our water table you'd rather use the water to pour on the plants instead of splashing around in it. When you pick tomatoes with Daddy you do a little stompy-jump dance and say "Yippee!" every time you pull one off the vine. You ask to read Secrets of the Vegetable Garden every time we're at Paigey's house, and that's where you learned that you're supposed to put a cloche over vegetables to protect them from snails. When you play at home in the bath you upend tupperware over your dinosaurs and tell me it's a cloche.

Now that you're older and better about playing with instead of alongside your friends at Sanity Club, it's been so fun seeing the friendship develop between you and Paigey (your "best favorite person"). You guys love your CFA dates and playing together in the playground area, as well as sharing animal crackers and reading and doing puzzles. You are so much more expressive with her and are a very appreciative audience for her singing and dancing.

Ever since finding out that Evie gave you Christmas Zebra, you've been talking about wanting to go to San Diego to see her. You also talk about going back to Seattle (all those buses made an impression on you), but we explain that that involves getting on a plane and that they're really far away. When I told you a couple weeks ago that your Auntie Emily was in Sacramento, you asked if we could get on a plane to go see her; you're turning into quite the little wannabe traveler! You also enjoy looking at maps and talking about South America especially. No idea why that continent appeals to you so much, especially considering we have the least animal figurines from that continent.

It's so hard to remember what you were like before you started talking, as you're such a funny personality. It's so cute to hear you try to talk like a grown-up, with words like similar, except, and actually. It's also a little scary to hear you talk to your stuffed animals, as the phrases you use with them are a reflection of what you hear most often from us. Whether it's putting Piggy Wiggy in time out for hitting, or telling Mssr. Bear that you can't read to him right now because you're washing dishes, or reminding them all to share and take turns, it's a good reminder that what you hear from us now will be your inner voice when you're older, so we need to be very careful about what we say. Even when we think you aren't paying attention, you'll randomly ask "What you talking about, Mom?" and then I have to try to explain in terms that you can understand.

Besides internalizing words that you hear, you also really take to heart what you read in books or see on Daniel Tiger. Some things are neutral and/or cute (e.g. carrying dinosaurs around in a bucket after reading all the Harry series of books, or having your unicorns eat cherries after reading Goodnight Unicorn), some things are great (e.g. being a "big helper" by carrying things for me, eating broccoli), and some things are not so great (e.g. having your cars and trains crash into each other after reading Dino Rescue, or making messes after reading What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night). Because of this, I've been really careful not to choose books that set up sibling rivalry as a foregone conclusion. Maybe you won't experience any (hah! I can only wish!) and if that's the case, I don't want to plant the idea of being mad at the baby in your head.

Which brings us to the biggest change on the horizon: your baby sister is due to make her appearance any day now! We've been reading Baby on the Way and What Baby Needs in preparation, and you seem to have finally wrapped your mind around the idea that it's a baby and not a zebra in Mommy's tummy. You regularly ask if Baby ____ is here yet, or ask if you can give her a kiss, and the other day you said we had to include her in our sing-about-all-our-family-members lullaby. She has a representative in our unicorn family, and we've talked about how Baby Kina and Baby Charlie are younger siblings of your playdate friends, so we'll soon see how all the preparation worked...or didn't work, as the case may be. In the meantime, I am trying to soak in all these last days with you as my bestest only bub.

Seattle Bedtime Monologue

I was surprised by how much you enjoyed playing in your crib/boat/train/bus/cozy nest during our hotel room downtime.  This is the last time you'll be able to use a roll-away crib in a hotel room, though, as you are definitely too tall for one now! 

On our last night in Seattle, Mommy and Daddy were especially eager for you to fall asleep quickly so that we could go out for a late dinner date. Now, at home it doesn't matter how long it takes you to fall asleep, but in a hotel room we can't just close the door to your room because you don't have a room to yourself! Instead, we put your crib into the tiny dark entry hallway and hang out on the bed around the corner so you can't see us. As we sat in the silent darkness, you started recapping your day, as is your wont, but this time because there was no door as a sound barrier, we were able to hear everything you said. I didn't have anything else to do, so here's a direct transcript, plus my commentary, of everything you said in the hour it took you to fall asleep.


***

"Sometimes I have a poop. And then we need to change. Oh! It's just pee. Why peoples have pee? Everybody has pee. Mommies, daddies, bebbers, and babies. When people has pee, it goes in the potty. See you later alligator."

[We've been talking a lot about pee/poop going into the potty because we're gearing up for toilet training. The day before we left for Seattle, you were wearing an alligator shirt so everyone said "see you later alligator!" to you.]

"Hello! Where's the baby? Where's your mom? Mommy not sleeping. Today we make a cake. Do you want some? Waah! A baby came out! You go back to sleep. Here's some water."

[Obviously this is because we've been talking about how you're going to have a baby sister.]

"Mommy right here. It's a hippo? It's red right here. Look! Where's the dinner? You can eat your dinner now! You can climb! He REALLY LIKES dinner. Do you wanna take a bath? Ok yeah! Ready to go back home. Eat your pizza! Don't lie down! Don't play African animals, not right now! Eat eat eat! Hey! Not your seat. You sit here and I will sit here. Where we going? Going to ride buses! Ice cream ice cream yummy yummy ice cream! Can we eat? Wait, where's your mom? Come here. Hi mom! Do you have a baby at home? I have a daddy and mommy."

[Because there's no dining room/table in the hotel room, trying to get you to stay in one place for meals has been a challenge. The first night, you tried to wander all around the room and lie down instead of eating your pizza, so I think you were just processing all that. And of course, people who see you wandering around school are always asking you where your mommy is.]

"I'm not sleeping. NO! Please have my pillow? Muffin! Muffin muffin muffin muffin muffin. Sing! It's so cold! But why is it so cold? You like to feel cold? Looks like you're cold. Cold cold cold you want to wear jacket? I want to wear red. Do you have red at your house? It looks like you're a velociraptor. Look! Velociraptors are velociraptor velociraptor velociraptor. Super duper."

[婆婆 is always asking you if you're cold, like grandmothers do, and you always say no. Red is your favorite color right now. We've been singing the muffin song a lot too, as well as talking about various dinosaurs.]

"I want my bears! They eating grass and hay. Do they even eat grass and hay? Elephant! What cows eat? Cows eat grass! Grass! What horses eat? Apples! That's what they eat? On trees? And pigs eat snap peas."

[We've also been talking a lot about the diets of various animals, and in an attempt to get you to eat more veggies, we told you that pigs eat snap peas. That piece of information unfortunately did nothing to change your eating habits.]

"That's all my stuff. Mine! Mine! That's my crib. Mine! After. After the treat is cap. What is cap? It means like ice cream. I understand."

[You've recently picked up the idea of possession, and that things can belong to you, to my dismay.]

"Ve. Lo. Ci. Rap. Tor! Dinosaurs, hey! I want some African animals. This one? Yeah! Please have a farm. Please have the dinosaurs. Besides the bear...do you know the farmer man? It's not the bebbers guy? *singing* Do you know the eating man, the eating man, the eating man? Do you know the eating man? It's not the bebbers guy! Do you know the dinosaur man, the dinosaur man, the dinosaur man? *back to talking* The owie man? I like the owie man. What happened to the owie man? Did he get out? And. He ate some cheese. And he want water."

[We've been singing variations on the "Do you know the muffin man" song, but the lyrics "who lives on Drury Lane" confuses you to no end, so we started substituting in "it's not the bebbers guy" instead. Then you added in all these additional verses. The owie man is what you call Jesus, because of how I told you the Easter story; I'm surprised you remember that Jesus proved he was alive by getting out of the tomb and sharing a meal with his disciples.]

*singing* "Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man? Do you know the muffin man, it's not the bebbers guy! Do you know the ice cream, ice cream man, the ice cream man? Do you know the ice cream man, it's not the bebbers guy! *continue singing, but about the fruit stand man and the  ocean animal man*

"Please have one cherry pie? And ummmmm this loaf of bread? And this one is...a bread with sour cream. What's this called?"

[You've watched us purchase a lot of baked goods over the last day or so in Seattle.]

*singing again, this time "Do you know the sleeping man?"*

"Get me all of them. I can't feed all of them! Cows on the bus. Number five. Oh it's a number four bus!"

[We spent a long time waiting for the bus to the zoo, so we passed the time by talking about what number buses were going by. After this you mumbled quietly to yourself for a little bit more, then finally fell silent. Phew!]


***

At the time, I was more than a little anxious that you wouldn't be able to fall asleep in time for us to sneak out for our 9PM reservation, but thankfully you finally knocked out at 8:45 and we were able to hustle over to Shaker+Spear in time! And now that we've had our nice dinner and made it back home safely, I can read over this monologue and laugh at it wholeheartedly.

I also had to resist interrupting your independent play with exclamations of how cute you were being after we got back from the zoo. You asked to get into your crib and then spent a long time arranging your blankets into caves and telling Mssr. Bear where chipmunks, Komodo dragons, and tiny tiny frogs were hiding, then made little "animal statues" for Mssr. Bear to ride on. I love that you process your day by recreating the adventures you had for your stuffed friends!