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'."