What on earth?

On the way to dance class this morning.

"Wow! Did you see that? That go light changed SO FAST. I think it has the code of the ninja."

New name

My daughter decided she has a new name.
Elise Claudia Whistlin' Pete

Why? I don't know. It sounds good to her. She keeps practicing her whistling and is getting better and better.

Dad's name can also be Joe Whistlin' Pete. Not mom though. She eats mushrooms. She's not normal. Just Elise and Dad Whistlin' Pete.

It's been a while.

Life gets busy. Things start to slide by and before you know it, your baby is grown up.

I need to add a few jems before I forget forever.

"Mommy? Is Santa and the Elves Daddy?"
Sigh. I knew this day would come, but she's only 4. She's so young. Who can I blame for this? Daycare? TV? Dad himself? Is she just that smart? I'm not ready.
"Of course not. Santa and the Elves are Santa and the Elves. Who ever told you such a thing? Santa and the Elves live in the North Pole. They can't possibly be Daddy. He lives with us."
She paused for a second, looked at me like I was insane and replied, "No mom. I SAID - Is Santa the Elves' Daddy? Who is the Elves mom and dad?"

The moon is cheese

Elise: There's the moon. It's made out of cheese.
Daddy: YOU'RE made out of cheese.
Elise: No Dad. Children are made out of paper and tan.

On dying.

Our dog Brutus died in November. He was quite the family dog. We all loved him. Elise asks about him every single day. She made up some story in her head about how he was sick and medicine didn't work so he went to live in a yellow house with other dogs. Fine. Could be close, huh?

It's going on 10 months of repeating the story every morning.

This morning we were in the car and she said "Mommy? Where is Brutus? Did his medicine not work?"
I finally thought she could grasp it and said, "Honey, Brutus died."
"Oh." she replied and paused.
She took a deep breath and said, "Well, dying isn't good now is it?"
I said, "No it's not."
She told me, "I think dying is pretty sad. Sometimes flowers die. One time I had a balloon. It did die. Dying sure isn't a good thing."

No honey, it's not.

Too much Scooby Doo?

Elise found a dollar this morning. She was so excited. She ran up and said "Mommy! I found a dollar! Is this Old Man Jenkins on this dollar?"

That would be George Washington honey, not the old man who would have got away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids.

What do you think of me?

Last night I was holding Elise. She looked up at me and said, "Mommy? What do you think of me?"
I replied, "Well, you're my daughter. You're beautiful, you're funny, you're a smart little girl and I love you very much. Why do you ask?"
Elise smiled and said "I don't know."
So I asked her, "What do you think of me?"

Elise, "Eh, you look pretty good."