Morning Conversation

"You are so lucky to have a brother, Lua. I always wanted a brother."

"You don't have a brother Mommy?"

"No, I don't have any brothers."

"Ohhhh...That's too bad!"

"Yeah, I have a sister though. Auntie Mara is my sister. We grew up together, just like you and Charlie are growing up together."

"When I grow up, I'm going to work."

"Really? What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to work with Bambi."

"No kidding. I didn't know Bambi worked. What does he do?"

"Nothing."

"So...when you grow up, you're going to hang out with Bambi and do nothing?"

"Yep."

Never confuse efficiency with a liver complaint

Perhaps you thought that after my long blogging draught Mary Poppins had left the daily routine at our house. Not so. Not only is Mary Poppins alive and well in our DVD player, she is gaining strength with hourly recitals of "Spoon full of sugar" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious". Lua has actually began to say the latter word and although it sounds a little bit like "Cooperalidocioshus", people actually know what she's trying to say. Lua's vocabulary is pretty astounding. When we took her to her two-year check up last week, the doctor asked us if she was stringing two words together yet. Riaz and I looked at eachother with identical incredulous expressions. I can't even remember the last time i heard Lua say only two words at once. Words seem to flow out of Lua like chocolate out of the chocolate fondue fountain that we enjoyed for dessert last night (sweet, but a little too much). She sounds so mature when she's talking to me that sometimes I have to remind myself that she is only two, and that even if she sounds reasonable, that doesn't mean she is reasonable. Take yesterday afternoon, for example. I told Lua it was time to take a nap, and I watched her face contort as her mind tried to work out a way to get out of sleeping. "Weeeeell', she began with her chin propped in both hands, "Well...but I can't take a nap. I'm playing with my sticker book right now, Mommy." Then she shrugged and went back to work on finding a page to stick Dora the Explorer. What am I supposed to say to such a logical argument? On the bright side, I would much rather engage in a battle of wits with Lua than a battle of wills. Our lives are so much happier now that everyone is healthy. Lua's whining is at a minimum (thank the Good Lord) and Charlie only needs to be bounced, spoken to, and tickled 20 - instead of 24 - hours a day. That is not to say we are not having our ups and downs, (I'm sure Lua will remember that time last week when I offered to drive her to the airport to catch a flight to Switzerland for boarding school), but there are definately a lot more ups at present, and I couldn't ask for anything more.