...and we had fun, and we played, and we tickled each other...

I kept my three year old niece, Charlie, a few days ago. She is an adorable elf full to the brim of words, giggles, energy, and a remarkable ability to locate water outside, no matter how well hidden. No kidding. If we put a bucket of water on the roof, in a few minutes Charlie would gleefully dash by, soaking wet, dragging the empty bucket behind her.

When the following conversations took place, we were sitting outside on a quilt, I doing my schoolwork and she ostensibly doing puzzles; really she was chattering to me.

Charlie: "Oh, KK, look at the birds! They're eatin' grass!"

Me: "Yeah! Why don't you go catch them?"

Charlie: "Oh, okay!"

(gallops down the yard towards the robins - they fly away.)

Charlie: (coming back sadly) "I couldn't catch 'em. But if I had a helicopter I could."

Well, yes, Charlie, you probably could. Or they would be killed by the helicopter blades. Either one.


Charlie: "I want to be a kitten when I grow up. What do you want to be, KK?"

Me: "A mama."

Charlie: "Silly KK, why don't you want to be a cat?"

I don't know, Charlie. I guess I just don't aim as high as you do.


Later, when she had gone poo-poo in her panties and I was cleaning her up:

Charlie: "NO!! KK, don't pull my panties down!"

Me: "I have to, Charlie. We have to clean you up."

Charlie: "NO! The poo-poo will fall out!"

Me: (unthinkingly) "I'll catch it."

Charlie: (with delighted interest) "In your hands?"

Well, that's one way, I guess.