Anyway, I was standing there in my towel drying off from my shower.  I dropped the towel, was standing there naked and about to pull on some clothes.  She looked up at me and made a strange face.  Then she said to me:

“Mom, how come you still have boobies if you don’t breast feed Nora anymore?”

I took all I had in me not to burst out laughing at her.  But I didn’t want to feel ashamed or embarrassed or like she shouldn’t ask me those types of questions.  I love how inquisitive she is but sometimes a child’s innocence is sheer hilarity.  I held in my laughter and attempted to explain to her that once you have boobies, they never go away (for the most part) even after you finish breast feeding a baby.  She seemed satisfied with that answer, thank God, and just said, “Ok, mom” and scampered out of the room.

Anyway, as I was browsing the shelves for some books that might interest Brinley, I noticed her walking over to a little girl that was looking for some books of her own.  Brinley went right up to her and said:  “Hi!  My name is Brinley and I’m three and a half.  What’s your name and how old are you?”  This has become her new phrase of choice when we go anywhere and she sees/meets someone new.  She asks the check out girl/guy at whatever store we’re in, she asked the sales ladies at the furniture stores this weekend, she asks anyone she meets at a park, and even when we’re just passing by someone she doesn’t know she’ll try to ask them.  It’s cute but of course not everyone, especially older women, wants to share how old they are.  Brinley doesn’t understand this and the other day a woman said, “Well, how old do you think I am?”  Brinley just looked at her very confused and said, “I don’t know, that’s why I asked you.”  Luckily the lady thought she was cute and we both just laughed.  The lady managed to get away without giving away her age.  My guess is that she was in her late 50s.

Anyway, back to my original story about the library.  So Brinley asks the little girl and the girl says, “My name is Zoe and I’m four and a half.”  Then they have the most adorable conversation ever!

Brinley:  That’s a nice name.

Zoe:  Thanks.

B:   What’s your mom and dad’s names?

Z:  Heather and Aaron.

B:  Which one is the boy?

Z:  Aaron

B:  What street do you live on?  I live on Rocky Road*.  Do you live in Anytown*, too?  What state do you live in?

Z:  I live on Lovely Lane* in Anytown*.  I live in Missachewits.

B:  What planet do you live on?

Z:  Earth.

B: ::in an extremely excited voice:: ME TOO!!

This entire time I’m standing behind one of the book shelves listening to the whole conversation.  Then Brinley runs over to me and says, “Mom, this is Zoe and she lives on Earth too!!  Can she come over to play sometime?”

*Street and town names have been changed to protect our privacy.

She asked me, in the sweetest way, “Mommy, when you were a little girl, where was I?”

At first I didn’t think much of it, and I just said, “You weren’t born yet.”

Well apparently that was not good enough.  She asked, “Well where was I?  Was I in your bellly?”

I said no and that she just wasn’t born yet, not even though of yet, when I was a little girl.  But still, she wasn’t happy with that answer.  She continued to ask where she was and then began rattling off some ideas of her own…

“Was I in daddy’s belly?  How about Mimi’s?  Or maybe I was still in the hospital?  Was I your mommy when you were a little girl?”

No matter what I said to her, I couldn’t satisfy her curiosity.  I guess the only real way to answer it would be to explain the birds and the bees to her and I am totally NOT ready for that!

At first I was very confused and I said, “Huh?”  She said, “You know, when Nora grows up and we get a new baby, what will we name it?  Will it be a boy or a girl?  I want a boy this time.”

Then I got it.  And I started laughing.  And then she was confused.  “What’s so funny, mom?”, she asked me.

Apparently she thinks that when a child grows up (or becomes roughly two and a half) then it’s time to bring another baby into the family.  So naturally when Nora grows up (turns 2.5) we’ll “get” a new baby.  Right?  Wrong!

I was at a complete loss as to how to explain any of this to Brinley so I simply said, “Well we’ll see what happens when Nora grows up.  Maybe we’ll get a new baby but maybe we won’t.”  That seemed to satisfy her for the time being.  Hopefully I won’t have to get into the birds and the bees talk any time soon!  Yikes.

Me: After you eat all of your dinner.

Brinley: But I’m full!

Me: If you’re full then you won’t be able to eat dessert.

Brinley: No, mom. I’m full of pasta and meatballs, but I still have room in my belly for ice cream.

Then we’re driving along and I pull into Dunkin Donuts to grab a quick pick me up.  Brinley asks, “Oh mom, are you just going to grab a medium french vanilla with milk and sugar?”  It’s probably a bad sign when your three year old knows your DD order by heart…

Then we’re in the parking lot at the library.  I put the car in park and take out my iPhone to check for any messages/updates and Brinley asks, “Mom, when are we going to get me an iPhone?”   Ugh, three years old and already wanting a cell phone.  She’s going to be a tough pre-teen!

Anyway, after memorizing these stories and characters, she decided that our family would become the Berenstain Bears.  The family consists of four critical members, Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother and Sister, and an additional cub, Honey Bear, who was not part of the family until 2000.  As you can guess, I became Mama Bear, Scott became Papa Bear, Brinley became Sister and Nora became Honey Bear.  With no one left in our family to become Brother, Brinley decided that he would just be imaginary.  He would join us where ever we went and even had a seat in the car right between Sister and Honey Bear.

So last week, we took a trip to my favorite store, Target.  We were just picking up a few things and were on our way to the check out.  Brinley was helping me to put the items on the conveyor belt and the nice cashier was making small talk with us.  She asked Brinley how old she was and Brinley replied that she was four (because Sister is four, at least that is what Brinley thinks).  Then the cashier asked Brinley what her sister’s name was.  Brinley said, “Oh, her name is Honey Bear.”  The cashier looked confused, but smiled anyway.  Brinley proceeded to tell the cashier, “I have a brother too you know.”  The cashier asked if he was at school and Brinley told her, “No, we just left him in the car for a little while.”

I nearly died!  The cashier looked at me like I had committed a crime (which I guess I could have by leaving my son in the car).  Since we were all paid and ready to leave, I didn’t bother explaining to her that Brother was an imaginary bear.  I just took our bags and left the store.

Last night after I had cleaned up the kitchen I told Brinley that it was time to head up to take a bath.  She looked right at me with the most serious face and stated, “I hate my life.  Life stinks!”

I started laughing so hard.  She proceeded to tell me that it wasn’t fair that she had to take a bath because she was still reading her book.  Ah, to be three again!

Every Tuesday and Thursday Brinley has school.  I usually use the car pool lane to drop her off so that I don’t have to get Nora out of the car in the morning.  There is a message board set up by the door to let the parents know of any up coming events or due dates.  Brinley always asks me to read it to her.  It usually says things like when the book orders are due or when they have gym and to bring sneakers.  Today it said:

Valentine’s Party this Thursday.

Book orders due today.

School vacation week next week.  No school all week.

Brinley asked me to read it to her and I did.  Then she started to cry and I was confused.  I asked her what was wrong and she said, “Mom, I don’t like vacation.  I WANT to go to school next week.”

It was so cute!  This is HUGE for us too because Brinley took about 4 months to get used to going to school.  She cried pretty much every day when I left her.  The fact that she is crying because there won’t be any school is a big step!

Two little, curious rabbits hopped into the kitchen.  Their mother was making a cake.  “Please will you help me frost the cake?”, their mother asked.  The rabbits looked in the cabinet for some frosting.  They looked and looked but they could not find it.  All they saw was some beer, some juice, some wine and some milk.  They saw a mouse and asked him if he knew where the frosting was. ..

I nearly died when she started rattling off what the rabbits saw in the cabinet, beer and wine!!  Does that mean mommy and daddy drink too much?!

Me: Why?

Brinley: Because its closed. (Obviously I can see that.)

Me: I know, but why do you need me to open it?

Brinley: Because I can’t do it myself. (I know this also.)

Me: I know that, but what is it that you need to go downstairs for?

Brinley: I need to get some tape. (Because I ripped the page that I was coloring.)

Lesson learned – be more specific when asking an almost 3 year old questions. Apparently “why?” is not clear enough. She got me this time!