A Thorny Conundrum

Pizza night: got some sausage from the market. Z asks, "What kind of animal did they have to kill for that sausage?"

Me: "Ummm... Looks like pork."

Z: "A pig?"

Me: "Yup."

Z: "Awww! Pigs are cute!"

Waits a second...

"But I *do* like sausage!"


- Posted via iPhone 3GS

Dreams

Z told me tonight that she dreamed about wild dogs, and that they were living in a barn--like in Horseland--but it wasn't really a barn. It was a shed. And they were in the shed, and Z was trying to keep them in. But they bit her fingers. Actually, they bit her fingers off. And there were witches. She also said that when she was older, she'd be able to "do that trick you told me about" where you can change what you dream about by thinking about good things before you go to bed. I told her I'd give her a lucky kiss before I left that would give her happy dreams, but she told me, "No, that never works." - Posted via iPhone 3GS

The Story of Noah

Speaking of, I broke out the children's illustrated bible the other night and read Z the story of Noah. Tonight she asked me "There's no God on Capitol Hill, right Papa?"

She wanted me to tell her a story about the ark, so I retold it where I was Noah, and I made the ark big enough to take everybody. And J found land after the flood. Then we all got off the boat and danced around. "And then we killed God", Z added excitedly.

Ummm.

I guess the whole Noah thing wasn't the best intro to YAWH.

So by the end of Halloween, after the trick-and-treating was done, Z and I went across the street to return a bottle of wine Rachel had left while babysitting (while I took S to the ER). [Whew!] Having dropped off the plonk, we turned to come home, but a big group of kids were coming up the stairs. "Hey Z! Do you want to give out candy?" "Yes!"

So we stayed up entirely too late giving out candy--with "Picture Day" tomorrow, no less. It was great, though. We sat and chatted, R carved a few pumpkins, and Z gave out candy to group after group of kids, big and small. Finally around 8, the stream of kids died out and we had a few moments to sit and chat.

Down the darkened street, an old woman, dressed in a white taffeta dress, with a tiara made of snowflakes came walking hobbling up the stairs, leaning on a cane. "Trick or treat!" she called. Z dug into her bucket of candy, and dropped three pieces into the old witch's purse.

"Now that you've given me a treat, I have something for you!"

She dug into her bag and pulled out an orb filled with a murky liquid and something that sparked when the light hit it.

"It's a ball! And when it bounces, it lights up!"

Z bounced it and it lit up.

"And it's also got..."

"It's got an eyeball that lights up!" yelled Z.

"Happy Halloween" called the witch, and hobbled off to the next house on the street, with no kids in sight.

I love this neighborhood.

I Have Nothing More to Teach You...

Reading with Zola last night: there was a picture of a dog at the park, and walking through a field of some flowers. "Ah, look at the yarrow!" I said. "No, Papa! That's Queen Anne's Lace!"

Amtrak experiences

Zola went to NYC to visit her cousins with her Baba. Zola was really excited about the trip, not least because she finally had the chance to travel on Amtrak. (In the mornings when she occasionally joins us in bed, you can hear the train whistle. Zola will often ask if it's the "Philadelphia train" that Mama takes to work, as I used to travel up there frequently when I worked for BBBSA.)

A few of the highlights:

• "Baba, they dont' serve anything but junk food on these trains." That wasn't a complaint ... Zee loves junk food. It was another reason to love the train.
• "Baba, I think we must be in New Jersey now. I just saw a clue." This said while driving past a rough part of one of the stations in Baltimore that had a lot of graffiti. Not sure where she learned that NJ has lots of graffiti, but apparently the guy across the aisle from Zee and Baba thought that was hilarious.
• Upon returning, "Mama, did you know they have a quiet car on the train? Well, I didn't like it. They need to have a loud car." Upon finding out that I like to ride in the quiet car while on business travel, "Why Mama?"

Unicorn rock star

Zola received a new unicorn stuffed animal. As we were getting out of the car she said, "I need to brush her mane and her tail so that she doesn't look like a rock star."

Baba's citizenship

Zola's had lots of fun over the years with the fact that her Baba is an alien, but not the scary kind from outer space.

After many years in the states (over 45), Baba told Zola that she has finally decided to apply for American citizenship. Zola replied, "Well, then you have to stop saying 'toe-mah-toe'."

Very Memorable

Zola had her first art class with her new teacher, Ms Bomba. We met her briefly during Beautification Day. When she got home, a I asked her how Art went, and if she liked Ms Bomba.

"Yes, but you know, she didn't recognize me."

"Well, she only met you once."

"But I'm very memorable!"



- Posted via iPhone 3GS