Everyone who’s been a parent longer than I have has told me I have to write down the hilarious things Chiara says. That she’s going to ask about them when she grows up. I’ve already forgotten so many things that I have meant to write down! But this week there were doozies!

Yesterday, Grandma Mimi and Aunt Jessie visited in the evening around bath/bedtime so they took care of getting Chiara to bed while I took care of Jemma. While I was nursing Jemma in the darkened bedroom, Luke comes in with a huge smile on his face. He recounted: Grandma Mimi and Chiara were having a conversation that turned to Aunt Monica, GMimi’s youngest child. At some point, they talked about how Monica came out of GMimi’s belly, and GMimi asked Chiara, “How did Monica get into my belly?” (Don’t ask me why she asked that! I wasn’t there!) Chiara answered, her voice filled with authority, “First, you drink a lot of water. Then you pay lots of money to the pay person.”

Sometimes, I know I’m instigating Chiara by saying nonsensical or fantastical things. Like the other night, I was blowdrying her hair with our ancient mini travel hairdryer. It has only one temperature, and two speeds, and of course, Chiara wants me to use the low speed. But who has time? So I said, “Chiara, if we use the slow speed I’ll be a halmoni (grandmother) before your hair is dry.”

“Noooo,” she replied. “I don’t want you to be a halmoni.”

“Ever?” I said. “Don’t you want to have your own babies? Or Jemma to have a baby? If either of you have a baby, then I will be the baby’s halmoni.”

“Noooo. I want you to be my Oma. I want to live with you forever.”

“Really! You want to live with me forever? When you grow up and become a teenager, I’m going to remind you of this conversation!”

So there you have it! Posted on the web for posterity.

This is the munchkin last September on the roots of what I believe the groundskeeper called a kind of  fig tree at a mission in Long Beach, California.