Conversation With A 4 Year Old

Laura didn't go to school yesterday because halfway there she informed me she couldn't breathe and needed to do her "machine" (aka nebulizer). Since I understand all too well that awful feeling, we turned around and headed home. Once we got home she used her machine, was revitalized, and a few grey hairs spontaneously appeared on my head.

So today she was very excited to go to preschool, and she kept the chatter going a mile a minute in the car on the way there. As you can imagine, Laura is usually pretty talkative and comes up with some good material. But today was one of her best days. I'll try to relate some of it here, although I simply can't do her justice. Her inflection, thoughtful pauses, and exclamations are some of the best parts.

It started out with Laura rehashing her dislike of Daddy's new truck (it is a stick and goes too fast). Then we moved on to the tiny acorn she had found at school last week, which she was holding in her hand and examining.

Laura: Mommy, what's inside an acorn?

Mommy: Well, I guess-

Laura: Mommy, you know what I'm going to do with my acorn? I'm going to plant it and an acorn tree with grow and then a fox and fox friends, maybe a chipmunk, can come to the tree. They will love it and eat all the acorns.

Mommy: That's very sweet of you Laura. But I'm not sure-

Laura: Oh no, I dropped my acorn! Poor acorn, where are you? Mommy, I can't find my acorn (starts crying). What happened to it? What if Moxie eats it? Pull over and help me find my acorn. I don't want it to be lost forever. Oh wait, I see it. It's on the ground by the door. Can you pick it up for me? Just reach back here and get it!

Mommy: I'll have to get it when we-

Laura: I'm going to be a mermaid when I grow up. You and Daddy can be mermaids too. I love mermaids and I can't wait to be one. We will swim around and be beautiful. I love mermaids so much. Where do mermaids live Mommy? Can my friends be mermaids too?

Mommy: Giving up and murmuring politely

Laura: Did I tell you that I'm going to turn into a butterfly? I will be very shiny and pretty. It will be hard to change into a butterfly because it is very tricky. All of my friends will be butterflies too and we will fly around. No boys though. I will be the queen and my friends will be the princess butterflies. We will have so much fun and play games. I can't tell you what game though because it's a secret.

Mommy: Wait, what? A secret?? You can tell me because I'm your Mommy. You can tell me anything.

Laura: (Very solemnly) No Mommy, sorry. It's a secret.

And cue the grey hairs.